Grigor Dimitrov remains without a Grand Slam title, leaving many tennis lovers heartbroken again. The Bulgarian star, who has had a career filled with so much promise but tied down by injuries, had to declare a walkover against the home favorite Frances Tiafoe after struggling through their intense US Open quarter-final clash on Tuesday evening.
After going 2 sets to 1 down, Dimitrov made the tough decision to concede a walkover, not wanting to aggravate his lingering groin injury from Wimbledon earlier this year.
Grigor Dimitrov retires from his match against Frances Tiafoe at the US Open.
Really sad to see this.
It appears to be a similar issue to the one that caused him to pull out of Wimbledon.
He worked so hard to put himself back in this position and came up with some great… pic.twitter.com/A2D1DNsa0r
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 4, 2024
In the press conference after the match, Dimitrov said he is awaiting test results to determine the exact nature of his injury. While he did not wish to reveal much about the injury, he didn’t rule out a combination of many factors causing it, which included his intense match in the Round of 16 with Andrey Rublev. That is why he suffered from cramping in his legs.
‘It’s an accumulation throughout the days… Clearly my rehab process is a little bit slower than before. I mean, I felt a couple of things in prior the match.
“… Given all the circumstances from Montreal up until now, I mean, I wasn’t really sure I’d be even able to do, like, as well as I wanted to do.
“…As I said, last couple of days have not been the easiest at all. So I wish I could pinpoint something to give you more on that, but at the moment it is what it is,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov had his best chance to break the Grand Slam curse. But it seems that he didn’t really recover from his Wimbledon injury and that denied him that golden opportunity.
For any player to take on Tiafoe on hard courts is a task because of the physicality in the American’s game. Dimitrov tried to stay afloat for most of the match with his fighting spirit, but the body gave up as the game went on.
He chose to prioritize his long-term health over immediate glory and that is a respectable call. Nevertheless, this turn of events means that the 20th seed Tiafoe advanced to the semi-finals.
With his electrifying style of play, Tiafoe is set to be a huge threat to fellow American, Taylor Fritz in what promises to be a thrilling semi-final showdown between the two home hopefuls at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday evening.
The matchup is sure to draw huge attention, as both players are waiting to make their mark on the Grand Slam stage. One of them could break the duck of an American man not winning a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick did at the US Open famously back in 2003.
