Fear is not a friend: Dimitrov banishes demons to stun Mensik

LONDON, July 2 : Veteran Bulgarian stylist Grigor Dimitrov spoke of how he managed to banish his injury fears after he pushed himself to the limit in a stunning 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5 6-3 defeat of fast-rising Czech youngster Jacub Mensik at Wimbledon on Thursday.

Almost a year to the day since the 35-year-old suffered heartbreak in the fourth round when he led Jannik Sinner by two sets in the fourth round only to tear a right pectoral muscle and retire, Dimitrov rolled back the years.

Playing a man 15 years his junior who was seeded 15 and reached the French Open semi-finals last month, former junior Wimbledon champion Dimitrov put on a grass-court master class on Court One, fully justifying his wildcard.

Last year, Dimitrov was left shattered by the injury and cried for two hours in the locker room.

It was the fifth Grand Slam in a row in which injury had forced him out and he feared for his career, afraid to practise at full intensity in case the injury returned.

But on Thursday on Court One he produced tennis that Swiss maestro Roger Federer - the player he modelled his game on - would have been proud of to leave Mensik reeling.

"You learn. Fear is not a friend," Dimitrov told reporters after reaching the third round for the fourth year in succession. "If you want to go out there and compete at the highest level, you need to push yourself to the limit.

"Why am I here if I'm not putting everything on the line again? If I don't have that, then there's not going to be a point for me to be competing anymore on the biggest stage of our sport, here at Wimbledon.

"I had to stay as present as possible, eventually get myself back on the horse, just try to apply my game."

Dimitrov, who has former Argentine player and Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian as part of his coaching set-up, fended off seven break points in the opening set against Mensik before edging it on a tiebreak.

Mensik finally got a break of serve to level the match and then looked to be the favourite but Dimitrov, using his silky one-handed sliced backhand brilliantly, responded and broke serve to win the third set after Mensik stumbled trying to make a volley.

A stoppage to allow the roof to close as light faded stopped Dimitrov's momentum and he dropped serve on the resumption.

But the former world number three re-focused and looked the fresher player as he surged to a brilliant win.

"Right now I'm in a place where I'm in the third round of Wimbledon," said Dimitrov, who faces Italian former runner-up Matteo Berrettini in a third-round clash for the purists.

"Body's holding up fairly well. There's really not that much else to add other than that this is okay, this is great, this is in front of me, and that's what I have to deal with."