ATP Finals crown caps off a phenomenal year for Grigor Dimitrov

Grigor Dimitrov wins the biggest title of his career — the ATP World Tour Finals crown — the same year he won his other big title, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, a Masters 1000 event. Dimitrov defeated David Goffin in London, in a tense three set final, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

The tennis year has ended for Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov exactly as it began, with a title to cement his comeback from dropping form last year, when he dipped to No. 40 in the world last July. Dimitrov’s been building himself back up and with the title win at the O2 arena in London, he now sits at the career pinaacle of No. 3, just behind Rafal Nadal and Roger Federer.

The talk for most of the year in the sport has been all about the resurgent movement from Nadal and Federer, but three players have emerged as new Masters 1000 winners during that time, including Alexander Zverev in Rome and Montreal, Dimitrov in Cincinnati, and Jack Sock in Paris. It’s the first time this has happened since 2011.

For the last six years, the Big Four (Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray) have had a stranglehold on the Masters 1000 crowns, with the exception of four others (David Ferrer, Stan Wawrinka, Wilfried Tsonga, and Marin Cilic), but never three separate newcomers to the field in one year since then. Zverev’s rise has been the most remarkable, defeating both Djokovic in Rome and Federer in Montreal, but Dimitrov collected up the bonus 1,500 ATP points needed to surpass him and overtake his world No. 3 ranking.

And he’s been working to achieve this point in career all season. He defeated Kei Nishikori for his first title at Brisbane before the Australia Open this year. He progressed to the semis at the first grand slam, until he was defeated by a resilient Nadal, but beat the same opponent he faced in the ATP Final, David Goffin, for his second title in February at the Sofia Open. But his most impressive effort came at the Western & Southern Open, again benefitting from Rafa going out earlier and this time Fed withdrawing due to injury, beating Nick Kyrgios in two sets.

Based on his success on hard courts this year and his career trajectory to get to this point, it’s a good bet he’ll be a contender for the Australian Open in 2018, and could make his first Grand Slam final, even if several of the injured players comes back (Djokovic, Murray, Nishikori, Wawrinka). He’s proved all throughout the year that he has the all-court game to rise to the occasion.

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It’s clear the new world No. 3 has gained the confidence to keep going in 2018. He leaves London undefeated throughout the final ATP tournament, gaining the full purse string of $2.5M and full bonus points to put him in contention next year. He’s also the first player winning the tournament in his first try, since 1998 when Alex Corretja achieved the same.

“It’s such an honor to play here,” said Dimitrov afterwards. “This has been one of the best weeks I’ve ever had. Unbelievable effort by David and I wish him the best in the Davis Cup.”

Grigor Dimitrov will enjoy some well-earned vacation time and start getting ready for the upcoming hard court season in Australia that starts up in the new year. David Goffin has one more week of tennis, playing in the Davis Cup finals for his country.

Both men have had a phenomenal year and it will be fascinating to watch them build on this momentum in the new year.