Grigor Dimitrov was aiming to continue his dream run in 2024 after making it to the final of the Miami Open recently. But at the Monte Carlo Masters, Dimitrov’s run came to an early end against fellow top-10 player, Holger Rune. Rune might’ve won the match, but it was Dimitrov who won the hearts of fans after playing many trick shots and one of those was the biggest highlight of the day.
Rune won the match 7-6 (11-9), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2). However, towards the end of the third set, a small rally broke out. As the rally was getting longer, both players looked equally adept at stealing that point. Just then, Dimitrov came up with what is now being called a ‘fake smash’. The Bulgarian came up with some soft touch with his racquet on the ball, that managed to go slowly over the net. Rune had no chance of getting there.
The video of that shot started circulating on social media, with fans going crazy over it. Tennis TV shared the clip on its Instagram page with the following caption:
“COOL. CALM. COLLECTED,” wrote Tennis TV.
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The calmness of Dimitrov was laudable, given the situation of the match. The commentators felt the same too. Here’s how many fans reacted to the shot:
“Full respect to Dimitrov from a Rune fan,” wrote a fan.
“He makes tennis looks so effortless,” wrote another fan.
“Damn so sad he lost. Bro’s truly unique and creative with his shots.”
These are just some out of the many praiseworthy comments about the shot and the Bulgarian player.
Grigor Dimitrov vs Holger Rune and what’s next for them?
The match between Grigor Dimitrov and Holger Rune was perfectly poised till the very end. It started with a fantastic opening set, which ended up going into a tie-break. Rune eventually won the first set 7-6 (11-9).
Dimitrov came back very strongly in the 2nd set, easily winning it 6-3. Many may have thought that the Miami Open runner-up would fetch the win from there, but Rune is a tough nut to crack especially on clay. The 3rd set too ended in a tie-break. And Rune won that as well, 7-6 (7-2).
Holger Rune progressed to the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters and will now face Jannik Sinner, someone he admires a lot, in the quarter-final. Whereas Dimitrov will move ahead to other competitions, possibly the Mutua Madrid Open, which is the next ATP 1000 Masters tournament. As of now, his name is missing from the list of seeded players in the Barcelona Open.
