Grigor Dimitrov is back in the Wimbledon third round, and he got there by beating No. 15 seed Jakub Mensik 7-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Friday. The win sends Dimitrov into a matchup with Matteo Berrettini, after both men kept their runs alive on the same day.
That is the kind of result people notice because Dimitrov has spent much of the past year fighting his way back from injury. He retired from last year’s Wimbledon after leading Jannik Sinner by two sets in their Round of 16 match, then was out of tennis for multiple months. Berrettini has been through his own injury problems in recent years, and his 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over No. 20 seed Arthur Fils put the two back on a collision course at the All England Club.
Dimitrov did not sound like someone fixated on the bracket while he was finishing off Mensik. He said he was “so happy to be back and just play tennis in front of you guys,” and added that the whole point was to “come out and fight.” He also said, “You know the past year has been so difficult and again it’s not about winning or losing to get it’s just about conquering myself and playing tennis just like that today, regardless of the outcome.”
That attitude mattered because the match itself carried a simple consequence: the winner moved on, the loser went home. Dimitrov said he was not thinking about winning or losing, even though he was one set away from the third round throughout much of the afternoon. He was thinking about surviving the physical test and staying in the tournament long enough to keep building on a comeback that already has a cleaner edge than last year’s collapse at Wimbledon.
Now he gets Berrettini, and the matchup has the kind of balance that keeps a crowd leaning forward. Dimitrov and Berrettini are tied 1-1 head to head, which is part of why Dimitrov could describe what comes next in a single line: “If nothing else, it’s going to be a pretty match. I’m looking forward to it.” After what he has been through, simply getting to say that again is the story inside the score.
