I never wanted to compare myself to Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal

Grigor Dimitrov said it felt good to win his first match after the unfortunate end to his Wimbledon campaign. In the first round of Wimbledon, Dimitrov injured his thigh and had to retire against Steve Johnson.

On Wednesday, Dimitrov returned from a month-long hiatus when he defeated Washington’s Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round. “I haven’t competed in a while, so winning a match is very good,” Dimitrov said after the win, as reported by the ATP website.

Dimitrov never tried to compare himself to the Big 4

Dimitrov enjoyed a very successful junior career and was compared to Roger Federer early in his career. The Federer comparison put enormous pressure on Dimitrov and the Bulgarian wanted the comparisons with the Swiss to stop.

“I think the beauty of our sport, but also of all tennis players, is that each of us is so different,” said Dimitrov. “I don’t think I ever wanted to compare myself to any of the top guys and I’ve always said that.

Like these guys, Roger, Rafa, Novak, I mean, Andy, I think all these guys, they’re in a league of their own.” Dimitrov may not have achieved his goal of winning a Grand Slam tournament, but he has he is ranked in the top 3 and has a Masters and an ATP Finals title in his collection.

Dimitrov, now ranked 19th in the world, believes he can return to the top of tennis. “I judge success from a completely different perspective, I would say. I’ve won these big tournaments, had amazing results, beat a lot of good players.

But I still believe that I can get back to the top. I would say that’s my main goal at the moment. I’ve been able to be in the top 20 for a while now. I was in the top 10 for quite a while. I was 3 in the world,” Dimitrov explained.

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