serbiavic
Professional
My view of Dimitrov is that he has potential, but right now when I look at him I am looking at an undeveloped game. He has potential to be great but lots of things to work on.
1. relatively weak returns: needs to be stronger
2. undeveloped, short backhands: needs to be stronger and deeper and more reliable
3. not strong enough forehands: Raonic/Federer/Djokovic/Gulbis all hit stronger, faster, more penetrating forehands and Dimitrov needs more MPHS on his to make it more of a weapon, so he can stop grinding in rallieds
4. low 1st serve %: not good enough against the top 10
5. 2nd serve: a huge liability
6. volleys: great improvisational skills here, but sometimes approach shots get suspect
7. Movement: not as great as Djokovic/Murray
Also I noticed that against the top 10 players, Dimitrov wins only about 19%. Exposes his undeveloped game (shown above). And even in his wins against the top 10 Dimitrov usually needs the opposing top 10 player to be under par. Let's talk about his top 10 wins in 2014:
- beat Murray in Acapulco: Only Murray's 2nd month from surgery and during the period where Murray had yet to beat a top 10 player (all the way to Tsonga at the US open). And still it was a close 3 setter with a 3rd set tiebreak. No way Dimitrov beats an in form Murray at this time.
- beat Berdych at Rome: It has been noted that Berdych had an awful clay court season, and he does get streaky. Dimitrov did lose to Berdych in Madrid in the tournament before, but Dimitrov did play well here. However, since Berdych lost 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 and the sets he lost were 6-2 sets, I think he may have had a bad day.
- beat Wawrinka at Queen's Club: Wawrinka had an inconsistent day, and it showed during the final when Dimitrov played Lopez (barely beating Lopez in three sets of tiebreaks, and Lopez even having match points I think). I don't think Dimitrov would have beaten Wawrinka if he was playing well.
- beat Murray at Wimbledon: Murray had a bad day. Gotta give credit where credit is due and Dimitrov did play a great match though. However, in the next match against Djokovic, I thought Djokovic played very subpar in that semifinal and Dimitrov couldn't capitalize (only took 1 set). In addition, in the 3rd round, against Dolgopolov he needed 5 sets to take him out (in the sets Dimitrov won I noticed that he needed lots of help from Dolgopolov due to his brain cramps, double faults on break points, and fatigue in the 5th set). I honestly thought that Dimitrov would have lost had Dolgopolov worked more on his fitness. So Dimitrov does not have the peak level of play to take out top players in form yet and needs a bit of help to win those types of matches.
Extraneous information: Dimitrov's two wins against Anderson were grueling 3 set matches (the one in Toronto Anderson had the match on his racket and choked and the final in Acapulco Anderson was up a break but double faulted on break point).
On the whole, Dimitrov is not capable of beating on fire players and needs help like double faults or endurance issues to win those matches. Overall, he is not good enough at this time to beat the top 10 players at their best, and Dimitrov's peak game is not that high right now.
At this rate it is not good enough for Dimitrov. He needs to step it up fast if he wants to win majors.
1. relatively weak returns: needs to be stronger
2. undeveloped, short backhands: needs to be stronger and deeper and more reliable
3. not strong enough forehands: Raonic/Federer/Djokovic/Gulbis all hit stronger, faster, more penetrating forehands and Dimitrov needs more MPHS on his to make it more of a weapon, so he can stop grinding in rallieds
4. low 1st serve %: not good enough against the top 10
5. 2nd serve: a huge liability
6. volleys: great improvisational skills here, but sometimes approach shots get suspect
7. Movement: not as great as Djokovic/Murray
Also I noticed that against the top 10 players, Dimitrov wins only about 19%. Exposes his undeveloped game (shown above). And even in his wins against the top 10 Dimitrov usually needs the opposing top 10 player to be under par. Let's talk about his top 10 wins in 2014:
- beat Murray in Acapulco: Only Murray's 2nd month from surgery and during the period where Murray had yet to beat a top 10 player (all the way to Tsonga at the US open). And still it was a close 3 setter with a 3rd set tiebreak. No way Dimitrov beats an in form Murray at this time.
- beat Berdych at Rome: It has been noted that Berdych had an awful clay court season, and he does get streaky. Dimitrov did lose to Berdych in Madrid in the tournament before, but Dimitrov did play well here. However, since Berdych lost 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 and the sets he lost were 6-2 sets, I think he may have had a bad day.
- beat Wawrinka at Queen's Club: Wawrinka had an inconsistent day, and it showed during the final when Dimitrov played Lopez (barely beating Lopez in three sets of tiebreaks, and Lopez even having match points I think). I don't think Dimitrov would have beaten Wawrinka if he was playing well.
- beat Murray at Wimbledon: Murray had a bad day. Gotta give credit where credit is due and Dimitrov did play a great match though. However, in the next match against Djokovic, I thought Djokovic played very subpar in that semifinal and Dimitrov couldn't capitalize (only took 1 set). In addition, in the 3rd round, against Dolgopolov he needed 5 sets to take him out (in the sets Dimitrov won I noticed that he needed lots of help from Dolgopolov due to his brain cramps, double faults on break points, and fatigue in the 5th set). I honestly thought that Dimitrov would have lost had Dolgopolov worked more on his fitness. So Dimitrov does not have the peak level of play to take out top players in form yet and needs a bit of help to win those types of matches.
Extraneous information: Dimitrov's two wins against Anderson were grueling 3 set matches (the one in Toronto Anderson had the match on his racket and choked and the final in Acapulco Anderson was up a break but double faulted on break point).
On the whole, Dimitrov is not capable of beating on fire players and needs help like double faults or endurance issues to win those matches. Overall, he is not good enough at this time to beat the top 10 players at their best, and Dimitrov's peak game is not that high right now.
At this rate it is not good enough for Dimitrov. He needs to step it up fast if he wants to win majors.
