Grigor Dimitrov spent his early twenties hearing his own game described as someone else's. The one-handed backhand and the all-court touch read as Roger Federer's, and the label "Baby Fed" followed him from the juniors into his first Grand Slam runs. He grew past the comparison on his own terms, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2014, the Australian Open semi-finals in 2017 and the US Open semi-finals in 2019, and closing 2017 by winning the ATP Finals, the biggest of his 9 career titles, to climb to a career-high world No. 3.
He proved that run was no one-off in 2024, turning 33 and fighting back into the top 10 for the first time since 2018. What followed has tested him more than any rival ever did: a torn leg muscle at Wimbledon that year opened a run of five straight Grand Slam retirements, the cruellest at Wimbledon 2025, two sets up on Jannik Sinner before a torn pectoral ended the match. He kept returning anyway, including for a five-set Wimbledon defeat to wildcard Arthur Fery in July 2026.
Seventy-eight. That is how many places Arthur Fery climbed in the ATP rankings this week, from 114 to 36, and every one of them came out of a single fortnight at Wimbledon. Above him the other big move was a return: Alexander Zverev, who beat Fery in the semi-final and lost the final, is back at No. 2, the highest he has ever been ranked.
Ranking taleFour. That is how many men are left at Wimbledon, and no two of them arrived the same way. A favourite carrying the weight of the tag, a 39-year-old chasing one more, a wildcard chasing a fairytale, and a first-time major champion arriving as one. One draw, four separate stories.
Wimbledon notebook