Grigor Dimitrov hits the wall, breaks it down to kick off clay court swing in Monte Carlo

Grigor Dimitrov hit the wall early in his first match on clay, but the No. 9 seed gamely broke it down to defeat Valentin Vacherot, 7-5, 6-2 and advance into the second round of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

“When your body gets exhausted, you have your mind. But when the mind starts getting difficult, you have nothing to lean on, so this is where you need to dig even deeper,” Dimitrov explained on court after the 89-minute victory. “That’s the difference. Once you hit that wall, you know there is more behind it, so try to break it down. This is all I’ve been trying to do in tough moments.”

“It’s always very difficult to have such a quick turnaround on the clay," he added when he visited the Tennis Channel Live Desk. “I’ve been trying to catch up on some sleep, little bit of fitness. But it’s never easy when you have to go back-to-back: I arrived Tuesday night, was on the court Wednesday afternoon already. It catches up with you, but I always say that these are the moments where you need to stay strong and you need to dig even deeper than what you’re used to."

Like fellow Monday winner Félix Auger-Aliassime, Dimitrov can claim Monte Carlo as a home tournament, but the crowd was ultimately supporting Vacherot, a Monégasque wild card and familiar training mate for the Bulgarian.

“I’ve seen him nearly every single day here,” Dimitrov said. “I’ve seen him go through rehabs and we were both physically in the same place. It’s never easy to play in front of a home crowd, honestly on both ends.

“He’s been playing well, and I saw he’s won some Challengers and has a fairly dangerous game overall. I just had to stay patient and use every opportunity I had when the opportunity presented itself. That’s all I tried to do today. On the big points, I think I played very well and that made the biggest difference."

But playing at home still has its perks: Dimitrov has been able to enjoy time with family in what has been his longest break since the beginning of the season.

“The past four days I’ve slept over eight hours every single night," he smiled. “Honestly, it’s beautiful. I have my mom around, and it feels like home. I’ve been here over 10 years now, and everything is so familiar. That’s all I care about at the end of the day, to make sure I feel natural. Time at home is golden."

After digging out a long opening set, Dimitrov found better footing in the second, breaking serve twice to end the match with more winners than unforced errors (23 to 21) and post solid serving numbers: 74% behind his first serve and 68% behind his second.

“I’m just grateful that I was able to get through the match today like that. I know I’m far away from my game right now, but hopefully this is a build-up for me.”

A former world No. 3 and 2017 ATP Final champion, Dimitrov has been building towards a resurgent season throughout 2024, starting the year with his ninth career title at a 500 event in Brisbane and defeating Carlos Alcaraz en route to the Miami Open final—his second at a Masters 1000 in the last six months after finishing runner-up at the Rolex Paris Masters last fall.

In the same quarter as his Miami Open conqueror and No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner, Dimitrov will next face either Miomir Kecmanovic or a similarly resurgent Matteo Berrettini, who is coming off his first ATP title since 2022 last week on clay in Marrakech.