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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2015

Grigor Dimitrov

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

G. DIMITROV/D. Brown
6-2, 6-3, 6-2
An interview with:
GRIGOR DIMITROV

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. That the start you wanted?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, it was a good start for me. Of course, I expected it to be tricky. The conditions were good. Court was great. I think it was just a little tough for everyone to get into that rhythm, to get used to the court. It was pretty windy today, so, yeah, I think overall it's been a good start for me.

Q. You were playing the sets goals. Have you set any goals for this year what you want to achieve?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, I always have goals, especially when it comes to slams, I would say. I don't want to say the other tournaments are less important, but every tournament I enter is to win. In the same time, you know that a tournament can change your whole schedule, your whole world. So in a way, this is my goal: To basically win everything that I play. From then on anything can happen. But to set one goal in particular, I'm not sure I'm that type of a guy.

Q. Since Roger Rasheed took over as your coach your slam form has been much improved. How does he make a difference to you?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Been working with Rog I think over a year now, and I think we established a really good platform, a work ethic, and I think a good relation. I think all those components in a way are really, really important, especially when you want to have such a close and tight relationship with a coach. It's never easy. But at the same time, I think we sort of found our way of practicing, of scheduling, of doing things in the right way. I still don't believe we were perfect, but we're still working on that, too, to get the right groove every time you come to an event or whether it's off-season or anything like that. So I think he brought a lot of good things into my game. I would like to say it's always been about the details, especially when it comes to big matches, big moments. That's quarterfinals, semifinals, and all the slams, of course.

Q. Does it make a difference that this is his home country?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I feel it help. I mean, I guess it does help, but I always felt good coming out of here and always had great support in Australia. Feel like an adopted Australian sometimes, especially when you come out on the court and you see all the fans cheering for you, which is great. It really helps you and boosts your confidence. It's just little different to play out here, and I like the vibe. All positives leaning on my side.

Q. Do you know any of the Bulgarian fans?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Not personally, but I think they are here last year and it's so nice to see them again today.

Q. Dustin is kind of a unique player. How tricky was it for you to play against him? Maybe hard to get into a rhythm?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, it's never easy to play against him. I believe I played against him on clay court maybe three, four years ago. I remember it was tight three sets. You don't know what to expect against him. I think the biggest thing for me today was that I just came out on the court and I was really composed. I knew what I had to do, and I just didn't -- I didn't feel like I gave him chance to do his game, so to speak. Didn't give him chance to play his shots. I think that discouraged him a little bit. After a couple breaks I already knew the match can go on my side, but at the same I have to stay focused. It's best-of-five sets and you never know what kind of shot or ball can take you out of that momentum.

Q. Do you know him personally?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: A little bit. But, yeah.

Q. Do you think personality-wise it lends well to succeeding or excelling on the court if you're an outgoing player? Do you feel like you face the pressure points easier?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I guess it helps, but sometimes I think it's on the negative side if you think about it. I just never thought about that question. I don't believe I have. I don't know. I think when it comes to certain matches, it really does help you. In the same time, you got to -- at some point you really got to look for yourself. If you play a really good friend of yourself, for example, you can't be that friendly when you come out to play against him. I guess that's that. On the other hand, you can be anything out of the court but everything is said on the court. You just got to give your best shot out there and forget about everything else.

Q. Do you consider yourself shy off the court?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: No.

Q. What's the condition like out there on that court? The courts can get pretty swirly.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: They were very swirly. That was the trickiest thing today. I think I had a warmup around 9:00, 9:30 and it was pretty dark and cold. I was thinking, God is it going to be like that the whole time. The next thing you know I came out on the court it was all sunny and nice weather and all that. It was pretty windy, I must say.

Q. Don't have the roofs over them here, are they less windy because of the way they're constructed?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I didn't think about that, but I guess at some point it helps a little bit, but not much.

Q. We've seen Milos Raonic debuted a new haircut. Nick Kyrgios has quite the interesting haircut himself. Have you ever thought of doing something like that with your own hair?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I think I've past that phase. I've had a lot of haircuts, but I think it's -- visually it looks pretty good. Let's see how the guys or the people would rate that. I like it. (Smiling.)
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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