NO PASSING OF THE TORCH, BUT DIMITROV AND RAONIC ARE ON THE RISE

Written by: Staff on 5th July 2014

NO PASSING OF THE TORCH, BUT DIMITROV AND RAONIC ARE ON THE RISE

epaselect epa04297952 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in action against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their semi-final match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2014. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

By Ricky Dimon

Friday at the All-England Club could have been a natural passing of the torch, with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic both going up against 23-year-old challengers. Instead, the Wimbledon final will feature a familiar matchup between Federer and Djokovic. After Djokovic held off Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(7), Federer gave Milos Raonic a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 grass-court lesson.

Although they may be a year or two away from complete Grand Slam glory, still it was a great tournament and has been a successful year for Dimitrov and Raonic. Dimitrov is 35-10 for his 2014 campaign, which includes three titles–the latest on the grass courts of Queen’s Club. He has defeated Andy Murray twice (in Acapulco and in straight sets at Wimbledon). Raonic is 24-10, with a quarterfinal performance at the French Open to go along with his Wimbledon showing.

Both fast-risers sound like they will only use this fortnight as increased motivation.

“There’s a lot of good things to take from it,” Raonic said after losing to Federer. “If you asked me before the event started would I sign on a dotted line to make the semis here. But when you get here to this point, I think it’s just human nature, the greed of human nature, that you want so much more. You feel it in front of you and you want to grab it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Milos Raonic of Canada returns to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their semi-final match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“How to deal with the situation is probably the thing I’ll put the most focus in. That’s something I didn’t do well today. That’s probably the thing that I can learn the most from. I believe I can put myself in the situation again, and the worst part would be to have the same feeling after. I know I can do much better. That’s the most I have to take out of it.

“Of course I’m frustrated,” Dimitrov commented following the Djokovic match. “I came out on the court to win. I think I had a pretty slow start, but at some point I think I got my act together and I was really playing good tennis. You never know what would have happened if I had taken that fourth set. I think at the same time I had my momentum. It’s just he came out on top today, so all the credit to him.”

Focus will soon shift to the U.S. Open Series for Raonic and Dimitrov. As players who excel on fast hard courts, the upcoming stretch of tournaments should be ideal for two of the game’s brightest stars. When the final weekend of the next Grand Slam rolls around in September, don’t be surprised if they are yet again part of the festivities.

And next time they will be no strangers to the party.

Topics: AELTC, Andy Murray, djokovic, GRIGOR DIMITROV, milos raonic, roger, Tennis, Tennis News, Wimbledon

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10sBalls_com says:

July 5, 2014 at 8:10 am

NO PASSING OF THE TORCH, BUT DIMITROV AND RAONIC ARE ON THE RISE- http://t.co/jMftJkHhcS @GrigorDimitrov @milosraonic @RD_Tennistalk #tennis
RD_Tennistalk says:

July 5, 2014 at 10:26 am

RT @10sBalls_com: NO PASSING OF THE TORCH, BUT DIMITROV AND RAONIC ARE ON THE RISE- http://t.co/jMftJkHhcS @GrigorDimitrov @milosraonic @RD…