Next Dimitrov gala against Borna Coric?

The first matches of the French Open 2022 have already been played on Sunday and given the abundance of top players in the top half of the men’s table, spectacle is guaranteed early on. One of the most interesting second-round duels will be the clash between Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric of Croatia.

The red clay is by no means Dimitrov’s favourite surface, but he produced a fabulous display in the first round, blasting US boy Marcos Giron home in a hurry. For the bookmakers, Dimitrov is the clear favourite against Coric according to the current betting odds. The 25-year-old Croatian Coric will certainly be a much bigger task than was the case with Giron. So the match will definitely not be a foregone conclusion, because Coric basically has everything he needs to be able to compete at the highest level.

Although he has been out of action for a long time due to injury, compared to Dominic Thiem he has much more confidence in his own game. In the first round, he came from a set down to win very confidently. The comebacker has nothing to lose against Dimitrov and can play with freedom.

Grigor Dimitrov – Statistics & current form

“Baby-Fed”, as the Bulgarian used to be called, is already 31 years old and thus one of the veterans on the ATP Tour. His most recent title win was also the biggest success in his career. In November 2017, he won the title at the ATP Finals and was thus crowned the unofficial world champion.

The year 2017 was undoubtedly the best year of his career, but he was unable to confirm these achievements. The reputation that he does not necessarily have the greatest ambition has proven true. Although he probably lacks a bit of the necessary seriousness for sustained success, the Bulgarian is one of the best in his field. Dimitrov is currently ranked 21st in the ATP world rankings.

Fearful opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas

The top tableau is much stronger than the bottom in the men’s draw and yet Grigor Dimitrov will not have been entirely unhappy at the draw. In preparation for the Grand Slam tournament in Paris, Dimitrov lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in each of the last three tournaments. Should this happen again at Roland Garros, Dimitrov would only be stopped in the final.

This is quite unlikely, as his successes on clay courts have been limited so far. Reaching the last 16 in the 2020 season was his greatest success to date, last year he was knocked out in round one by Marcos Giron (with a 2-1 lead) due to injury.

As luck would have it, it came to this clash again this year and Dimitrov made short work of his rival. The match was over in just 94 minutes and Dimitrov won all three sets 6-1. An extremely impressive performance, which underlines a tip on the Bulgarian for the second-round duel between Dimitrov and Coric.

Borna Coric – Statistics & current form

A second-round opponent at a Grand Slam tournament who is only ranked 279th in the ATP world rankings seems like a lucky draw at first glance. But Borna Coric’s current ranking cannot be used as a yardstick. The Croatian already knocked on the world’s top ten in 2019 and achieved the best ranking of his still young career at that time with position twelve.

Shoulder surgery makes for a year without tennis

Position 279 is due to the fact that Coric was unable to play a tournament match between his semi-final exit at the 500 Tournament in Rotterdam 2021 (6 March 2021) and his first-round appearance in Indian Wells almost two months ago (10 March 2022). The Croatian was out for over a year due to a long-term shoulder injury. He tried to recover conservatively until May 2021 before he had to go under the knife. He had to postpone his planned comeback at the Australian Open at short notice before returning to North America.

The long break from competition was not noticeable to him, as he only narrowly lost to Davidovich Fokina at the comeback in Indian Wells and was able to stand up to Alexander Zverev in the second round in Miami. It became clear that the hard courts of this world are the best surface for Coric’s tennis.

Series of defeats on clay

With his return to the red clay, Borna Coric has lost four matches in a row. A defeat against Jannik Sinner was still bearable, but the defeats against Flavio Cobolli, Dusan Lajovic and Laslo Djere were not necessarily to be expected. Accordingly, the expectations for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year were low and in the first set against the Spanish clay court specialist Carlos Taberner this seemed to be confirmed.

But then Coric really turned up the heat, became more and more confident with his serve (76% of the points came on the first serve) and was very strong on the return. So the Croatian definitely has a chance. In the long run, however, he will probably lack consistency in a best-of-five match. Nevertheless, the forecast for Dimitrov vs. Coric should at least be promising for a set win for the Croatian.

Grigor Dimitrov – Borna Coric Direct comparison / H2H-balance

Head to Head: 0:0

Depending on the stats page, a 1:1 can be found in the Head-to-Head between the two players. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt, as at the 2019 US Open, the Bulgarian Dimitrov benefited from a retirement by Coric in the run-up and celebrated a victory on paper. The second clash was an exhibition match during the pandemic-related time off, with the Croatian prevailing.

Grigor Dimitrov – Borna Coric Tip

For a seeded player, an opponent like Borna Coric in the second round is definitely an unpleasant task. However, the Croatian was injured for a year and clay is not considered his strongest surface. Under normal circumstances, the two players would be on a par, but the current circumstances justify the odds offered for the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric.

Especially since Grigor Dimitrov was one of the most convincing players on the first day of the tournament. A relaxed start ensured that he was able to save a lot of energy and tank up on self-confidence. Against Coric, the task will be much more difficult and another 3-0 win is not necessarily to be expected, but in the end, the favoured Bulgarian will most likely prevail. This results in an interesting prediction between Dimitrov and Coric of a 3:1 or 3:2 win for the Bulgarian.