US OPEN

August 31, 2023

Grigor Dimitrov

Press Conference

G. DIMITROV/A. Murray

6-3, 6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Straight sets. Two hours and 46 minutes on the big court. Your thoughts on the day for you today.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Great day. It was a great day. Happy to finish in straight sets. I think that was a big key for me. Just very happy how I moved overall on the court.

Physically I felt great. I felt recovered after the first match after playing for so long. It was very, I mean, very disciplined performance today and very happy with the way that I managed my game over the course of the match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. After the five-setter, you said you were really kind of surprised by your energy, how good you felt after that. I imagine that's a pretty promising thing for you as you're moving forward.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Even yesterday when I was moving around and when I was feeling good, I mean, just in the gym and everything, like, I felt the body was recovering fairly quick. I had a good night's sleep. I was resting enough.

I mean, I did everything that I possibly can. That also gives me quite a bit of confidence to come out and, you know, start throwing my body left, right, and center. Today I thought it was a very physical match, as well.

Of course better in three sets, better than five, but I had to really, like, elevate my game a little bit more.

Q. At 32, how much have you tweaked your workout, your gym sessions, et cetera, from when you first came on tour?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I'm better now than I was before. At 32, I'm lifting heavier. Like my body, it feels stronger. I mean, now more so than, I would say, four, five years ago. I have better results in the gym as well.

Gives me a lot of confidence. I think I've experienced quite good weeks overall this year on so many different levels. So it's been good. Very good. I don't overthink any of that right now. I just do whatever I have to do, whether I'm on the court or whether I'm in the gym.

Q. You mentioned you had a good match today, good year, you reached the finals, first time in a while you climbed back up in the rankings. What motivates you at this point, and the workout regimen, have you thought about changing your style of play -- I was going to say as you've gotten older, but as you have gotten stronger?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, I know there are quite a few things that I do on the court that agitates a lot of players, so I think I'm going to stick to that for now. You can always alter the game a bit and do a few things that are better. I always want to improve.

I think that's entirely up to us as a team to sit down and discuss all that and see how we, what we can do better in the same time.

I mean, I'm motivated because I'm excited. I get a chance every day to do this (smiling).

Q. Talk to us.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yes, exactly. It starts with that.

I think even now at this stage of my career, I'm more appreciative of every single day that I get to wake up and feel like, Oh, I'm actually feeling good, the body is great so let's just go and play. Of course you have a few aches here and there, it's inevitable part.

But in the same time, I'm trying to take things very, like, naturally. Nothing is ever that good and nothing is ever that bad. I guess you can call it maturity a little bit, I don't know.

Q. You sound surprised.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I am (smiling).

Q. I wanted to go back to your first-round match for a moment if I could and ask you about what your mindset is and your approach is when you're facing match points the way you did there. Also, when that happens, you get through it and wind up winning, does that free things up at all for you from a mental perspective as you move forward?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, it's never easy facing a match point. I think in the first one, if I remember, not only the first one, on all three, I was extremely aggressive. One of them was a half volley that barely went over the net. I don't know. I just try to win the point and do whatever I could.

And then I think on the other side, you -- I don't think like that anymore, like if I win a match like that, for me, It's, Okay, I won this match. I appreciate it. Of course I also had a bit of luck in the same time. There were a few things that went my way, but I fought for it.

I mean, victory loves preparation, and I think I've prepared extremely well. Prior to the tournament I practiced a lot. I did a lot of hours on the court. Did a lot of hours in the gym.

In a way, I also felt, Okay, if it didn't go my way, what else can I do? But I had to go after it. Today was no different. I really wanted to get out there and give everything I had.

Q. You have so much flow in your game and so much variety as you showed today. I'm interested particularly in the dropshot and how the dropshot has evolved in your game over the years, over the course of your career, and how the dropshot just on the tour has evolved as basically a weapon.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah. Well, a lot of players tend to go back, I mean, overall. And I think if you get the right moment to do a dropshot, it almost becomes, like, an easy shot to hit. But you need to follow the game very well in order to use that particular shot.

I think there's players that use it out of desperation. There are players that are using it to change the rhythm. There's players using it to get a free point. There's players using it to get to the net. So there are so many variables of that particular shot.

For me, especially off my backhand side, I feel, because I play quite a bit of slice, it's easier for me to do the dropshot on a very different occasion and maybe in a very different moment throughout the match.

So you don't know if it's gonna be, you know, a slice down the line or a cross or a dropshot. So that also, you know, puts my opponents in a very uncomfortable position sometimes to kind of doubt them or if I switch my grip a little bit too early.

Yeah, it's an interesting, honestly, it's an interesting shot that I think we're gonna be seeing it I think a little bit more.

Q. I wanted to ask you, because you're one of the more classy, popular guys on tour. Something popular is Barbie- Oppenheimer. Have you seen any of the Barbie or Oppenheimer movies...

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I haven't seen it, but everyone is talking about it. I haven't had a chance to watch any of it.

Q. You talk about just with Sascha, again in terms of that dynamic and being able to reverse what happened in Cincinnati and then just the matchup and how he still is fearful of you, just as well as anybody would, and how you played well today. He certainly took notice of that.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, of course he's an amazing player. We played quite a few matches, and yeah, the last couple of times we played against each other, he got the best of me.

But of course, you know, it's another match. I mean, I'm not gonna approach this match as any other exceptional match. It's just another run for me. As I said, and I'm always very focused on my side of the net. Of course I appreciate the challenge in every player that I play against, and I think everyone, each one on their own, they have very different qualities when we get out there to play.

So now I'm just gonna focus on that. I have a day to recover, a day to see what I can potentially try to do, like, a little bit and structure a good game plan. That's all.

Q. We talk about Roger, talk about the grace, Rafa, the bullfighter. What do you think your identity has been on the tour? How do you think other players look at you?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I don't know. Let's do a survey. I'm very curious. That's actually a very good question.

I don't know. What do you think?

Q. Graceful, athletic.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: That sums it up. (Laughter.)

Q. Are you all right with that?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I'm okay for that. Let's see what everyone else has to say.