Blessed with a game style similar to that of Roger Federer’s and looks that would rival some of Hollywood’s biggest star, Grigor dimitrov represented Tennis’ dream package. Known as baby Federer for most of his career, Dimitrov made his first breakthrough at a major at Wimbledon 2014. He lost a tight four set match to the once unstoppable Novak Djokovic and naturally, everyone in the tennis world thought that the Bulgarian was the real deal.

He nearly qualified for the season ending championship that season, but decided not to be an alternate, which left many people confused. His 2015 and 2016 seasons were nightmares as he could barely string together two consecutive wins. However, 2017 has started with a bang and once again, his name is in the mix for major titles.

Dani Vallverdu has reshaped Dimitrov’s career

Dani vallverdu is one of the best young coaches in tennis. Most known for being part of Andy Murray’s team for years, Vallverdu first worked with Tomas Berdych in a rather fruitless partnership. Dimitrov also went through a series of coaches but none of them seemed to stick.

Towards the end of the 2016 season, Dimitrov and Vallverdu joined forces and the first thing that they worked on was the Bulgarians fitness. Although much improved from his days of cramping in the third set, Dimitrov was still a little soft in the legs. Vallverdu is a work horse and aimed to make Dimitrov as unbreakable as possible. Dimitrov and Vallverdu were featured on the ATP World Tour website during the off season and it was evident that the Bulgarian was putting in the hard work. Vallverdu is also a positive and calming force in Dimitrov’s camp which juxtaposes the fiery temperament of his player.

Wins usually lead to more wins

Dimitrov began his season in the best possible manner by winning the tournament in Brisbane.

In his title run, he defeated three top 10 players, including Milos Raonic. As he headed into Melbourne he had a quiet confidence about him. It took a superhuman effort from Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals to stop Dimitrov and although he lost the match, he gained a plethora of new fans and admirers. Dimitrov then continued his rich vein of form by winning the tournament in Sofia. This tournament has special significance to him as it is hosted in his home country. He made the semi-finals in Rotterdam the following week which added to his string of great results. For Dimitrov, consistency in the bigger tournaments is what he has to aim for. Everyone knows that on his day, he can defeat anyone, but it is what happens on days that he is not feeling the ball that he should be more preoccupied with. Once he learns how to win ugly, he will be able to make it farther in tournaments and potentially challenge for a major as soon as this year.