By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Thursday, August 8, 2024
Photograph credit score: Display Shot
A painful below-the-belt shot did not gradual Grigor Dimitrov’s roll in Montreal.
Watch Dimitrov endure the low blow ball to the groin, each male participant’s worst nightmare, within the early levels of his Montreal match vs. Rinky Hijikata.
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Dimitrov tried to deflect a Hijikata return after a fault, however missed the ball and suffered the physique blow to probably the most delicate spot.
Hear followers within the crowd erupt in a sympathetic groan feeling Dimitrov’s ache whereas Bulgarian bites down on his shirt and slowly strikes to the again wall attempting to stroll it off earlier than dropping to his knees in agony.
Everybody felt that 🫣@GrigorDimitrov with an unlucky mishap at #OBN24… pic.twitter.com/VV35L8jJTS
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 8, 2024
In a exceptional present of resilience, Dimitrov not solely continued enjoying after the ball-busting shot, he truly gained 9 video games in a row to shut a 6-1, 6-0 overcome the Aussie qualifier.
Afterward, Dimitrov summed up the expertise as positively painful.
“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts,” Dimitrov advised Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj afterward. “I used to be simply attempting to cease the ball after which it was sort of windy so simply within the final second it moved and I didn’t transfer.
“For 3 or 4 video games it was no enjoyable.”
The seventh-seeded Dimitrov will face both 2023 US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton or Aussie Alexei Popyrin for a quarterfinal spot.
