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Grigor Dimitrov vs Gael Monfils: Wimbledon – Third round

Two experienced players who love to play on grass will face each other in the third round of Wimbledon.

Grigor Dimitrov Profile

The former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov returned in the top 10 of the rankings for the first time after seven years. The Bulgarian is 31-10 for the season and 3-1 on grass.

Dimitrov is coming off a 5-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Juncheng Shang in the second round. In the opening match, he defeated Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Coming in to Wimbledon, Dimitrov lost to Sebastian Korda in the second round of the Queen’s Club.

This year in Brisbane, Dimitrov won his first title since 2017 defeating Holger Rune in the final. He also reached the finals in Montpellier and Miami.

Dimitrov’s best result at Wimbledon is the semifinal in 2014.

Gael Monfils Profile

Gael Monfils is currently 33rd in the ATP rankings, and his career high was No. 6 in the world. The Frenchman is 18-14 for the season, including 5-1 on grass.

Monfils is coming off a 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over Stan Wawrinka in the second round and previously defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Last week in Mallorca, Monfils reached the semifinal, where he lost to Alejandro Tabilo in the third-set tiebreak.

That was his second semifinal of the year after reaching the same stage in Doha.

Monfils’ best result at Wimbledon was the round of 16 in 2018.

Head-to-Head Monfils leads 4-1

• Monfils vs Dimitrov 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 (2016 ATP Miami, round of 16)
• Monfils vs Dimitrov 6-1, 6-3 (2015 ATP Monte Carlo, quarterfinal)
• Monfils vs Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6, 7-5 (2014 US Open, round of 16)
• Dimitrov vs Monfils 5-1, ret. (2014 ATP Bucharest, semifinal)
• Monfils vs Dimitrov 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 (2011 US Open, first round)

Prediction and Conclusion

This will be an epic battle between two veteran players who had great results as juniors in Wimbledon but never transferred that to the senior tournament. As the window is closing for both of them, they see a great opportunity in this match. Both Monfils and Dimitrov have rejuvenated their careers and seem ready to make a lot of noise at Wimbledon. It’s been 8 years since their last match, and Monfils was very dominant in their previous head-to-head matches. At the moment, Dimitrov is the better player, but he barely survived the previous match, coming back from two sets down. Given all that, this will be a long battle that will go over 39.5 games in total.