Grigor Dimitrov, 31, says he is happy that he still gets nervous before matches because it means he still cares about the game and still has the desire to win. On Monday, Dimitrov played his first match at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam when he dismantled Aslan Karatsev 6-1 6-3.
Dimitrov, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the third round of the Australian Open, was playing his first match since coming off the season-opening Grand Slam. «I went out to compete. I was looking forward to Australia. I didn’t play anything.
I had some time to spend at home. I got tired of practice. I was like, ‘OK, time to go!’ I was happy that I was also getting nervous before matches. I’m very happy with it, to be honest, because I’m accepting it. It means that I still care a lot and I still want to do a lot every time I go out on the court.
Today that was my goal, to go out there and play a really good game,» Dimitrov said, according to the ATP website.
How did Dimitrov beat Karatsev?
Dimitrov came out firing at Karatsev as he earned back-to-back breaks to open up a comfortable early 4-0 lead.
In the fifth game, Karatsev finally got on the board while serving his service game to cut the deficit to 4-1. However, it didn’t take long for Dimitrov to get another break when he broke Karatsev again in the seventh game, when the Russian was serving to stay in the first set.
After easily winning the first set, Dimitrov also got off to a strong start in the second set when he broke Karatsev early for a 3-0 lead. Up by a set and a break, Dimitrov held his serve for the rest of the match to complete a straight-set victory.
