ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 5, 2023

Grigor Dimitrov

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/G. Dimitrov

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Grigor, bad luck today, but a lot of positives to take out of this week. Can you just sum up your experience in Paris.

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, amazing week. I mean, that's all I'm going to say. It's been a great, yeah, I would say 10 days coming from Vienna and just wanting to complete a very good week. That was my goal.

I didn't know obviously if I was going to get to the final, but I was very thrilled the way I was playing throughout the whole tournament. A lot of good wins, a lot of positive wins. So I've done a lot of good things this week. I need to stay positive and keep on believing that things will come out for me.

Q. It's been a big week. You have to feel very proud of yourself for what you've achieved, not just here but for the last few weeks. So why the tears at the end? Was it a matter of the tension that just hit you, the emotions of the moment?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: It's difficult to explain emotions, I think. You want it. You know, it's tough when it doesn't happen. Only I know, in a way, without, like, feeling sorry for myself, what I've gone through the past months on and off the court.

Those are happy tears. I don't want to have them as something negative. I'm human, after all. At the end of the day, I think just the buildup not only of the last two weeks, the last months of hard work and the big trip in China, everything has been kind of, in a way, snowballing like day after day, match after match.

Of course in the end I was so close to making something that I wanted to do for such a long time. I don't want to have this as a goal is just to win the tournament, but it was just more of my mental and physical way that I was dealing with and through these past months.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not ashamed of them. It just happened. I'm sad. Of course I'm sad that I lost. It's never fun when you lose in a final. I think for me now I have some time to reflect and move on.

Q. You have played Novak so many times and it doesn't get easier. What's in his game or the way he's playing, especially against you? Is there something specific that makes it so tough for you to play? Is it the depth of the ball? What could it be?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, I think today, specifically today, his depth was amazing I think on the ball. Even if he was not feeling maybe physically at his best and all that, but he was able to put me in a very uncomfortable position and made me work for every shot. I also think my serve today didn't work at all.

Overall I was a little bit flat. That's also my, like, summary of the match. But of course Novak in the finals is probably one of the biggest achievement you can have in our sport to beat him.

I mean, so much respect for him. The way he's competing on the court is, I think, I mean, on a completely different level. I have said it before. I think also when it comes to those clutch matches, he's always been able to maximize his game, even if it's not at his best, but he's been able to maximize and put you in uncomfortable situations.

On that end today I think he executed a lot of points and games in a very good way.

Q. I remember us talking at the end of 2017, of course it was a bit of a higher note, but there are plenty of reasons to be very, very happy and very satisfied now. What can we expect from Grigor Dimitrov in 2024 and onwards, bearing in mind these positive experiences back then and now?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, you said it, it's positive of course. Very different, two very different end of seasons. But again, I think now I'm still a little bit on the adrenaline rush, so to speak, with how everything has been going, of course.

I don't want to say much, just because I have not thought about it too, too much, but the one thing I know for sure is that I just want to put myself in those positions every single time, which means that every time I get out there to play is like I'm there to play.

I want to make sure I capitalize on those moments, of course. I mean, this week again in quite a few matches, things could have turned completely different for me, but I was able to stay. I was able to be very good mentally and physically, as well, even though I was struggling with quite a few things.

So all in all, there is a lot of, like, positives that I can take from that. But also in the same time I need to look at some of the things that I can improve, some of the things that I can, like, come back and maybe do better. I feel there is very little details that I'm sure if I improve a little bit, it can make a very big change in my game.

And of course tennis, everyone is so competitive. Tennis itself has already been difficult as is, so a lot of good players, a lot of good competitors. How everything else will happen, we don't know.

But the one thing I want to feel is at the end of the tournament, whether I win or lose, I want to make sure I've left everything I have out there.

Q. This whole week you have come here, you've been very insightful and reflective, not just about your matches but your recent resurgence, those comparisons to six years ago. What is it that gives you that clarity where you can kind of reflect on your career and your matches so well? Is it something you do mentally, or...

GRIGOR DIMITROV: I think there are so many things that come to one's mind. On a daily basis, I'm sure you have a lot of thoughts that are coming to your head on daily basis, right, when you go for a walk and stuff. For me, I'm just like that.

I think there are times throughout the day where, as I said, I take some time for myself to just go for a walk and put my phone away. There is always like a period throughout the day that I always take for myself, and I think that's also what I'm very happy with.

It's a work. It's an internal work, as well. It's not just outside. It's not just stepping out on the center court. It's a lot of work on the court. Of course the fitness, you know, the nutrition, the sleep, rest, and all that. But lastly, don't ever forget yourself, because just as the tennis, the sport, everything is so important to you, you don't need to forget your inner world, your inner peace.

And I work hard on that. Of course there's always two sides of everything, so you need to make sure you feed the right wolf.