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CHINA OPEN

October 7, 2017

Grigor Dimitrov

Beijing, China

R. NADAL/G. Dimitrov

6-3, 4-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You played a great second set. What do you think made the difference at the start of the third that maybe you lost the momentum a little bit?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, I think first it's very tough to lose at such a stage in a tournament. It's never easy. I need to, right now, just stay positive and take the positive out of it. Winning a few matches already, not playing well, it's a good sign for me.

But, yeah, back to the match. I mean, I think I also had too many chances at some point. If you don't use them against players like Rafa, I mean, you're going to pay for it. I think that's what happened.

I think I played pretty okay tennis. Even the second set, even though I won it, I think I could have done a lot of things better. I think my game just wasn't up to speed today. Again, I'm just pleased the way that I fight and I stay positive. I think this is something to really build up on.

And, yeah, just the beginning of the third set was pretty sloppy from me. He took a charge right away from it. Yeah, I fought I think as much as I could. But it was just a lot of his shots, his shot selection, like a lot of points that he shouldn't have won, he won. For sure, that makes a bit of a difference. A few points here and there makes the biggest difference.

But, yeah, all credit to him today. I think he played a fantastic especially first set, fantastic match overall. Yeah, I'm moving on.

Q. Were you surprised you couldn't put your best tennis out there? Or has it been like this the whole week so you knew it wouldn't be enough maybe today?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, I think the first match was okay. Second was pretty bad, I remember. But overall I've been good in terms of being consistent, staying in the match which, as I said for me, that's a great sign right now.

Yeah, no other matches I felt like I was like, yeah, I'm striking the ball well, I see the ball big enough to take the ball a little bit earlier, to risk a little bit more.

But, yeah, I guess that's in the game. The only thing I can do is just fight for it and try to find a way to win. I think that's what I did the best so far.

I mean, there's not many, like, big secrets. Again, I was just talking to my coach, I felt I could have done a lot of things way better overall, not only in that match. But when it comes to these matches, you need to do them better anyway.

Yeah, I think overall I just need to stay positive right now. It's been a good week for me.

Q. When you walk out onto the court, you look up into the sky, you see it's so blatantly full of pollution, do you ever wonder about what the consequences are of playing out there, exerting yourself, breathing heavy?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: I know what you mean. Well, I think the toughest part is when you come from Europe, and the first three days is not easy. But, I mean, what can you do about it. If you think about it, there's not much you can do.

I just know the feeling. The first three days are absolutely terrible I think for everybody. A bit of a headache, we're coughing a little bit. The first match, the first set was a little bit of a test for that, just to kind of see where I'm at.

But control the control-ables, that's pretty much it. As soon as I land, I'm thinking, I need to go in the gym, sweat it out, work on finding a good tension for the strings, trying to see how the courts are playing, see how the balls feel. There's so much out of logistics that are way more important.

But I think in the end of the day, you have one goal when you get out there on the court, I guess.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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