Roger Rasheed is definitely one of the best coaches on tour.
The muscular Australian has managed to help Grigor Dimitrov to break in the top 10 (no.8) in August and he is now ready to for another great year.
During a recent interview Roger shared some interesting thoughts about Grigor.
I gave a solid structure…
Roger said “When we started in October [2013] I put a solid structure in front of him that I wanted him to follow. And to his credit he absorbed everything in front of him.
So having that and having someone who knew a pathway, gave him confidence. Couple all that with some hard work and he was able to navigate himself through the bigger tournaments better. He had a sense of calm and knowledge.”
… he had great results in Melbourne and Wimbledon…
Then talking about the quarters achieved in Melbourne, Rasheed added “To get into the second week of a slam for the first time is a hurdle you have to jump,
Obviously to play like he did against Rafa, where he took the first set and then lost two tiebreaker sets shows he can go out there and play high-end tennis in the bigger tournaments. He’s actually happy in that arena.
Then I look at Wimbledon and he’s down two sets to one to Dolgopolov but survived mentally in a real battle. Then the big one playing Murray on Centre Court in a quarter-final and winning in three straight sets.
That’s the Mecca of tennis. It takes a lot of composure and control to play such a crowd favourite like Andy on a court where he’s won Olympic gold and the Wimbledon trophy.”
… Grigor is comfortable on big stages
The best part of it is that Dimitrov seems at ease playing on big courts “So they are telling moments in the character of an athlete because you actually see where their mind can be, where they want to live. Some players get there and can’t buy a shot. Grigor was comfortable and not scared. Those moments are transforming him into a better player.”
Currently ranked no.11 Grigor will start his 2015 in Brisbane where he reached the final in 2013 (d. by Murray).
| ROGER HAVING FUN WITH GRIGOR ON CENTRE COURT |
| DIMITROV AND RASHEED TRAINING IN MELBOURNE |
