Baby Fed’s final nail in the Goffin
DIMITROV STARTING TO DELIVER AT LAST
THe celebritystudded crowd had accepted their invitations to the O2 Arena for the last match of the regular season, doubtless expecting to see a coronation of Roger Federer.
Instead, they got a coming of age for the man who has laboured under the nickname of Baby Fed for so much of his career, Grigor Dimitrov. He overcame David Goffin to win the Nitto ATP Finals.
employing that elegant style so reminiscent of the Swiss, the 26-year-old Bulgarian registered a fifth victory of the week to wrap up a triumphant stay in London. The final nail in the Goffin, you might say. Having spent much of his career known as something of a playboy — Maria Sharapova is an ex while Nicole Scherzinger has been a long-time girlfriend — Dimitrov will end the season ranked No 3 in the world. This adopting of a more professional work ethic represents a major success for his coach Dani Vallverdu, who spent years working alongside close friend Andy Murray.
Apart from thanking his support team, Dimitrov also namechecked Scherzinger after receiving the trophy and a cheque for £2million: ‘I want to thank my girlfriend, she deserves quite a bit of credit for these two weeks. She is somewhere hiding,’ said the extrovert Bulgarian. In fact, she was busy working on The X Factor.
He clinched victory when Goffin made a mess of his backhand volley on a fifth match point.
Dimitrov immediately feel on to his stomach as the tears came quickly. This was the first time in the history of this event that the two finalists could not boast a Grand Slam title between them. It was also the most unlikely match-up since Nikolay Davydenko beat Juan Martin del Potro in 2009.
Last night’s opponents also met in the group stages earlier in the week, when the Bulgarian thrashed his opponent for the loss of only two games.
Yet there was no early sign of scar tissue from the Belgian, who must dredge up the energy next week to lead his country into the Davis Cup final against France in Lille.
He broke twice in succession to go 2-1 ahead, but there was some understandable edginess from both men and the Bulgarian heart-throb got back to 4-4 with a second break of his own.
It was close and competitive but short of being a classic. Dimitrov finally broke through at 6-5 when Goffin missed some key forehands and he took the opener on a fifth set point.
It seemed Goffin might buckle when his opponent forced a break point at 2-3 in the second, only for Dimitrov to be too passive. The Belgian fought back and broke for 4-3, but paid heavily for missing four break points at the start of the decider.
It was a worthy win at an event that again pulled in more than 250,000 spectators.