[mistercrabs]

He just doesn't have it. Watching the essence of itness Nick Kyrgios followed by Dimitrov, the contrast was overwhelming. All I saw was Murray playing a black hole - an "it" vacuum as it were. I'll bump this in 10 years to rub it in.

 

[invisiblecoolers]

Personally I never liked Dimi's attitude in the court nor his game but he will win a slam at the least once in his career may be like how Stan did @ 29.

 

[Looner]

Sounds about right.

 

[JarkaFish]

Diva wins slams all the time, just not the type we measure tennis greatness with. :shrug:

 

[fivebargate]

I fear you may be wrong....I think he has shown more yesterday that he is reaching the level needed to have a shot at least. The rest comes down to small amounts on the day.

 

[MIMIC]

EDIT: N/M :lol:

I agree

 

[RicardotheGreat]

It's hard to say really. He clearly has the talent for it, but definitely lacks the killer instinct. The hot shots and flashy winners were acceptable and understandable when he was 18, 19, and even in his early 20s, but he's going to turn 24 this year and he's still trying way too hard to be a crowd pleaser.

He's improved his fitness immensely, it's staggering how much better his stamina is than it was a year or two ago, and he can defend better than most. In my mind there are 3 things Grigor needs before I can see him winning a slam:

1) Improve that topspin backhand, right now it's clearly a liability.
2) Better court positioning and strategy. Stop standing so far back and playing defense, it keeps getting him into early-round 5-set wars of attrition in slams.
3) Cure the mild case of Monfils-itis.

1 and 2 I believe could be solved with a change of coach. Dimitrov's backhand has regressed under Rasheed, who I've never really been sold on. He needs a coach who will cater more towards his offensive capabilities, perhaps a Magnus Norman or a Darren Cahill.

#3 is going to be the difference-maker, because that tends to be a character trait and not a skill that can be easily improved. I'd say odds are still better than 50/50 at this point, but he really needs to start addressing his weaknesses with more urgency or else his chances are going to start plummeting.

 

[NovakTheGoat]

Totally agreed mugs like him with limited talent have no right to win a slam, guys like Raonic, Cilic, Nishikori and Kygrios will win slams in the future and reach many finals unlike Dimimug.

 

[Uncle Latso]

pretty bold actually, considering he's got 30 slams to play, with inevitably weakening opposition (4 of the great ones ever declining) and him improving constantly, while already having played a semi.

 

[leng jai]

Unless he gets a serious injury or really goes off the rails it's hard to see him not picking up a slam at some stage.

 

[ProdigyEng]

Lol he will win at least one

Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App

 

[Mark Lenders]

Almost 24 years old, no Slam finals, no Masters finals, just one SF at a Slam, two at Masters; pigeon to all of the big 3, far from inspiring records against the other top players either...

Long story short: this isn't a bold prediction, if anything it'd be bold to call him winning a Slam.

 

[Popo21]

By the time the real players retire, he will already be about 27 or 28. Then you have the current guys better than him (Nish and Raonic), plus by then the next generation will be there too. Unless he really steps his game up, I don't think he'll win one.

 

[vayuu]

this isn't even bold, just stating the obvious

 

[Mountaindewslave]

I agree he probably won't win a slam

I find it strange when I repeatedly hear from commentators and former pros that they 'expect with certainty that Dimitrov will win slams' which I hear often

He just has weak mentality. It was already established for a while now that he lacks brains in terms of on-court strategy and decision making, but what's worse is that he is not clutch whatsoever and loses concentration repeatedly in matches

I mean let's just put it this way- Murray is far from a great example of good mentality on court (hits himself, curses non stop, glares at his box)- yet even he appears to have a better mindset than Dimitrov. sure, I guess you have to admit that it also helps that Murray strategically is quite intelligent but all the same Grigor managed to choke yesterday in multiple sets against someone who is extremely negative

Dimitrov might win some Master's 1000 titles but he is giving me extreme Marcelo Rios vibes in the sense of having almost too many weapons to choose from and making wrong decisions on court. to be fair to Grigor- at least unlike someone like Rios, he actually does put in the work off the court but still. I noticed last night the commentators kept mentioning that it seems like Grigor was often hitting the ball too early, or too late, or out of position and they deduced that they thought this might be because he has TOO many options and because he's a bad decision maker struggles to pick what shots to hit on different parts of the court. I agree with this

maybe he will surprise us but even when he makes the scoreline kind of close like against Murray yesterday, for some reason you never really feel like or believe (as the viewer) that Dimitrov is going to win big matches like this. there's just some sort of x-factor missing with him

 

[Mountaindewslave]

It's hard to say really. He clearly has the talent for it, but definitely lacks the killer instinct. The hot shots and flashy winners were acceptable and understandable when he was 18, 19, and even in his early 20s, but he's going to turn 24 this year and he's still trying way too hard to be a crowd pleaser.

He's improved his fitness immensely, it's staggering how much better his stamina is than it was a year or two ago, and he can defend better than most. In my mind there are 3 things Grigor needs before I can see him winning a slam:

1) Improve that topspin backhand, right now it's clearly a liability.
2) Better court positioning and strategy. Stop standing so far back and playing defense, it keeps getting him into early-round 5-set wars of attrition in slams.
3) Cure the mild case of Monfils-itis.

1 and 2 I believe could be solved with a change of coach. Dimitrov's backhand has regressed under Rasheed, who I've never really been sold on. He needs a coach who will cater more towards his offensive capabilities, perhaps a Magnus Norman or a Darren Cahill.

#3 is going to be the difference-maker, because that tends to be a character trait and not a skill that can be easily improved. I'd say odds are still better than 50/50 at this point, but he really needs to start addressing his weaknesses with more urgency or else his chances are going to start plummeting.

the #2 in your list is the ultimate flaw and something that sometimes you cannot 'fix'

also I disagree about 3), Dimitrov has become a bit of a pusher in my opinion these days. he was getting outhit and pushed around the court by Murray of all people, an extremely defensive (albeit successful) player

 

[Satvan]

Style does not equate to talent. I agree he is not a grandslam winning material.

 

[NoGOAT]

Thread worth bumping in up to 2 years time.
Expect Masters title and GS final this year.

 

[Satvan]

You cannot win slams by being a weak hitter with average serve and defense.

 

[Uncle Latso]

yeah, average defense is his main issue..