Grigor Dimitrov : Can he fulfill his potential?

Grigor Dimitrov is all over the news. No! Not for his achievements. A career ranking of 22 and with only one title to his credit, the attention is definitely not because of his achievements. Rather, due to his un-canny technique similar to Roger Federer himself, he has been labelled the future of tennis.

But is he?

In this hyper-competitive tennis world, wherein the Big four have dominated like no one else in the history of Tennis, it is difficult to make a mark. Even the talented likes of Ferrer and Berdych have gone Grand Slam less due to thier dominance. But this dominance is slightly fading, thanks to Federer’s wading powers.

Not only Federer, same goes with the other three. All about 26-27 years of age, they can be in top flight for maybe 4-5 more years. Then like everyone else, they will face decline. And here comes the question, who will be the face of men’s tennis then?

Though there are several players who come into mind, no one is discussed as much as this young Bulgarian. For the very reason that his technique resembles Federer, people think that he might dominate the tennis world in the coming years. That might be true, but his achievements till now has stated otherwise.

He has won only one ATP title in his 5 years of professional career. Not a bad achievement at all, but considering that at the same age, Rafa won nearly 30 trophies, and Federer himself around 11, it is a very modest number. Even his Grand Slam record or his head to head against the top 5 have not been that impressive either.

I am not saying that he is not talented. He is talented, but the attention he gets is much more than he deserves. For example, a recent news paper published the possible top ten rankers in the year 2018, and guess what who was ranked one? Dimitrov! Moreover, with him being Sharapova’s boyfriend, I wonder whether he can get any more of it.

And that is where I feel he needs to stay focused. All the attention must not get into his head and disrupt his career. He is talented, and he needs to stay focused to attain his full potential.

With Federer facing off against Dimitrov today, it would be a match to watch. Not because off all the "papa fed vs baby fed" hype. Just to watch how Dimitrov would fare against one of the world’s best.

Can Dimitrov rise upto his expectation? Or will he fade into oblivion without much achievement? Only time can tell.