The days of living in the shadow of being compared to Roger Federer are way behind Grigor Dimitrov says his coach Roger Rasheed.
The 23-year-old Bulgarian had been associated with the ridiculous nickname of “Baby Fed” for many years, since he showed up on the scene showcasing a smooth-looking array of groundstrokes and a single-handed backhand.
And while Dimitrov’s talent was evident from the start – since he won Wimbledon and the US Open as a junior in 2008 – he only made it into a second week of a grand slam for the first time earlier this year.
It was his first major quarter-final on his 15th grand slam appearance and it came less than four months into his partnership with Rasheed, who believes it was imperative to scrap the unfounded comparison to one of the game’s greatest players.
“The first thing I did when I agreed to do some work with him (Grigor) was to get rid of all those nicknames, get rid of the ‘Baby Fed’ on the ATP site, because you create your own beast,” Rasheed told Sport360° ahead of Dimitrov’s first round on Monday against Ryan Harrison.
“People keep talking about it, he can’t stop that, but if they mention it in interviews now he’s not interested and nor should he be.
“It’s good when you’re at a young age that someone would compare you to something like that but now it’s like ‘get on with it’.
“You can only compare at a young age purely because of what it looks like but it’s almost like an insult to Roger now if you keep mentioning it. Because Roger has won 17 grand slams and the kid’s done nothing – he’s done a little bit but in regards to that, the comparisons should be non-existent.”
Since Dimitrov announced he appointed Rasheed as his coach last October, he has managed to win four ATP titles (he had none before that), on four different surfaces, and has leapt from No28 to No13 in the world.
Rasheed believes winning those trophies along with his run to the second week in Melbourne have now given Dimitrov the belief that he belongs amongst the game’s elite and will help him continue to move forward.
“You have to believe that in your own mind. He had to have a grand slam experience – at the Australian Open that was his first real grand slam experience getting to the second week. He made the quarters there, he was close to getting on top of (Rafael) Nadal.
“So to have that experience was gold, he’d never had that before. He was a first and second rounder.
“So now he’s got to do that again, it’s time for him to do that. He can do it again here (at Wimbledon), there’s no doubt.”
Dimitrov managed to bounce back from his opening round defeat to Ivo Karlovic at Roland Garros a few weeks ago by winning the title on the lawns of the Queen’s Club and Rasheed says his protégé is learning to accept defeats and spin them into more motivation.
“Karlovic is obviously a player who can create some big upsets. He’s done that here at Wimbledon to Lleyton Hewitt, he’s beaten Roger Federer before. He’s had some big scalps because he’s got that massive serve so he can be dangerous sometimes with his confidence.
“After that (defeat) it’s about getting back to work. That’s going to hurt you enormously which Grigor is now accepting how much it hurts now and he’s got to go back to work straight away.
“He responded pretty well at Queen’s obviously and I think this week he’s got to respond again.”
The partnership between the world No13 and Rasheed has so far proven a winning formula and in the Australian, Dimitrov seems to have found the right guidance he had been lacking in his earlier years.
The chemistry also appears to be in abundance between the pair.
“I have a lot of fun with it. But when we go and train, we train,” says Rasheed, who has coached Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the past.
“We have a lot of fun off the court and it’s really relaxed. It’s intense when you need to be and it’s really accountable and strict when it needs to be.
“You’ve got to be able to understand an individual’s character and what’s needed to be added to that character and then how to get the best out of that character. I think that’s the secret to real good coaching.”
