Players Under the Microscope / Barry Millns / 16 February 2009 / Leave a comment

After taking both Wimbledon and US Open junior titles last year, Grigor Dimitrov has showed no signs of being over-awed since making the step up on to the ATP tour. Barry Millns believes the Bulgarian is an exciting prospect.

Bulgaria has not had too many tennis players to shout about down the years aside from the Maleeva sisters, Manuela, Katerina and Magdalena. Certainly, there has never been a Bulgarian male of note in professional tennis until now with the emergence of Grigor Dimitrov.

Last year the 17-year-old won both the Wimbledon and US Open junior titles. Last week he won his first ATP World Tour match with a three-set victory over Tomas Berdych as a wildcard in Rotterdam, before taking world No.1 Rafael Nadal the distance in a match that further underlined his potential.

The way Dimitrov strutted onto court, plus the way he moved and struck some of his shots was reminiscent of Marat Safin. Already 6 feet 2 inches tall and presumably still growing, Dimitrov has a big serve like the Russian and notched up 19 aces in his two matches in the Ahoy Stadium, where he was far from overawed by his opponents or the occasion.

With nothing to lose and so much to gain from the experience he displayed considerable poise and even broke into a few smiles. The main difference between Dimitrov's game and Safin's is the backhand which the Bulgarian hits single-handedly and which unlike the Russian's world-class shot on that side, looked technically suspect especially in the early stages against Nadal.

So it was surprising how well he protected and adjusted his weaker wing to the extent that he won the second set against the new Australian Open champion. One forehand winner blasted down the line, past Nadal at 160 kph, was truly staggering and drew gasps of amazement from the crowd.

Come the decider, Nadal raised his game a level to take the match. But Dimitrov undoubtedly made quite an impression on the Spaniard who said afterwards: "He will certainly be a great player and for sure reach the top 10."

As a result of his week's work, the current junior world No.2 soared 77 places in the ATP rankings to a career-high world No.401, making him the new Bulgarian No.1. He is the youngest player ranked inside the world's Top 500 and despite his youth he has already competed valiantly for his country in the Davis Cup, winning all five singles rubbers and the one doubles rubber he played last April when he was still only 16.

But as Safin could no doubt tell him, it is one thing to play as a fearless youngster without pressure and quite another to live up to expectations when you have a target on your back. Dimitrov has yet to make his senior grand slam debut and it will be remarkable if he matches Safin's in 1998 when, as an 18 year-old, Marat not only upstaged Andre Agassi in five sets at Roland Garros but then also knocked out the defending champion Gustavo Kuerten in five sets en route to the fourth round.

Dimitrov, who has idolised Roger Federer, says his ambition is to become world No.1. Intriguingly, the Bulgarian has just teamed up with Peter Lundgren, a former coach of Safin's and Federer's, at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France where Marcos Baghdatis is based.

So a bright future beckons, but who you may ask, is ranked above the Bulgarian in the juniors? The answer - Yuki Bhambri, a 16-year-old from India who followed up his triumph in last December's prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida by winning last month's Australian Open junior title.

It is definitely worth keeping an eye on him, plus the former junior world No.1 Yang Tsung-Hua of Chinese Taipei and the towering Australian 16-year-old Bernard Tomic. But right now Dimitrov, who also won three Futures titles last year in Spain, looks likely to be the first of them to make that difficult transition from juniors to the main tour.