Dimitrov hoping to succeed in front of home crowd in Sofia

Around this time one year ago, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov was on a downward spiral in the rankings, eventually falling to No. 40 in the world.

Since the summer of 2016, though, he’s made quite the rebound and after winning his first 10 matches of 2017, he’s now at No. 13, earning a third seeding at his “hometown“ tournament in Sofia this week. The 25-year-old's birthplace was Haskovo, Bulgaria, and his residence is Monte Carlo.

In the new ATP feature, Dimitrov—who won Brisbane this year and made the semifinals of the Australian Open—talked about playing in Sofia for the first time.

“This is pretty amazing to me,” Dimitrov said of competing at the ATP World Tour 250 event.

At the same time, though, expectations and demands are as high as ever.

"Every time I’m here, it’s pretty hectic, but what can I do?" he said. "It’s in the game: no excuses. I’m here to play tennis."

Dimitrov also discussed his difficult loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, in which he fell 6-4 in the fifth set.

“I think it was just very tough for me. … I was in tears in the locker room,” Dimitrov said. “I was replaying the match at least 20 times the same night. I slept about two hours, so it was just not really the most pleasant day after.”

He'll try to replace that disappointment with new memories in Sofia. So far, he's off to a great start, first outlasting Jerzy Janowicz, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 and then taking out Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-3 for a spot in the semifinals.