Grigor Dimitrov expressed his gratefulness for every match he appears on court at this stage of his career and is not taking the late success for granted.
The 32-year-old reached the final of the Paris Masters after upsetting #6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Following his nail-biting three set semifinal victory, a relieved Bulgarian talked about what that win meant to him and the significance of landing another ATP Masters 1000 final.
“It means a lot to me for so many different reasons,” said the former World No. 3 after edging Tsitsipas.
“I don’t take this very lightly in a sense that, I mean, I appreciate it a lot because I know how difficult it has been for me, certain tournaments and months throughout the year. So I guess this came at the right time.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. I think getting to this final means a lot more to me than some, I think even some moments, some big moments in my career.
“Right now I’m just staying in the moment. I have one more match to play. I’m going to give it all. What’s gonna happen, I don’t know. But I’d say this week means, from a very different perspective to me, a lot.”
Dimitrov said that he knew he needed to be get into his zone when the match entered into the decisive tiebreak.
“Well, sometimes you get moments like this, I think, throughout the match that you kind of read everything through a little bit more. And for me, he was serving again so well throughout the second set and I think the third set, as well. I wasn’t really able to get on a lot of points on his serve.
“When the tiebreak began, I said to myself, Okay, he’s been playing very solid. I have been doing a lot of good things right. But in the same time, I have been very, like, solid throughout the whole match. So, I need to lean on the things that I did well.
“Of course, a couple of serves here and there, I read them very well. Great returns, attack the ball. Yeah, next thing you know, I was far ahead in the tiebreak.
“So that was already a big thing,” said Dimitrov.
The ATP #17 seed highlighted the significance of saving a pair of bps in a crucial third set game as admitted that it later proved to be a turning point.
“I think the game that I saved at 15-40 in the third set, like, that was a big game.
“I would say that played, like, a crucial moment for me, because the momentum could have changed completely and then the match could have gotten away from me,” added Dimitrov.
“I mean, it could have gone — again, it’s one of those matches that could have gone either way. I think that even the previous times that we’ve played against each other has always been like this. I feel like we know our game fairly well, and then in the same time there were moments that went his way, then it went my way, then it went his way.
“That’s just how it is in such a match. I mean, it could have gone either way. I just felt like in the important moments throughout the match, I was very, very solid.”