Live from Wimbledon Day 4 - Dimitrov, Berrettini roll back the years

**Catherine** (0:11)
Hello, and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. That incredibly unprofessional intro was largely cameraman Matthew's fault, but also because we have a crowd. They made it through security.

**Matt** (0:32)
Yay!

**Catherine** (0:33)
We don't know how, but they are here, and we are very grateful for the rule breakers of Wimbledon Day 4 It is Day 4 of the Championships here at SW19. The second round has been completed, and the last man to sneak his way into the last 32 was one Grigor Dimitrov. If you are with us live on YouTube tonight, you have probably just watched his 4-set win over 15th seed Jakub Mensik, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. More an exorcism, David. Than a win. I felt like we all and Grigor Dimitrov were doing trauma processing there in real time.
That was a lot for me. I cannot imagine what that was like for Grigor Dimitrov.

**David** (1:26)
Yeah, because he had to remind everybody on court that when play stopped for bad light and they needed to put the roof on, that that's what happened to him here a year ago when he played Yannick Sinner. And he reckons that that was responsible or at least a contributory factor to him getting injured or at least he's freaked out by it. And he was worried and there's obviously a delay and you cool down and all the rest of it.
And look, he's carried this with him for a year. You spoke to him at the US Open, Catherine, for Tennis Podcast meets in...

**Catherine** (2:00)
Australia.

**David** (2:01)
In Australia and he was so open, wasn't he, about how you're so rarely in that flow state where you're playing Yannick Sinner, you're two sets up and you're playing like you always wished in your dreams that you could play on Centre Court at Wimbledon against the very best player in the world. That's what he was doing. And then just a terrible, terrible situation for him.
I know this is only the second round. I know it's only Jakub Mensik and that's not to dismiss him as a really, really good player. It's not Yannick Sinner. And it, you know, there's so long to go, but it was a moment. He has been waiting for a moment ever since that Wimbledon sent a quarter last year. He's been playing the challenger in Dublin. He reckons that that's helped get him ready for this. But how many matches in first rounds have we seen him play and just not get out of and just not be able to get any momentum going. And there he is with his old coach, Jamie Delgado in his box there, sitting alongside David Albandian, who's part of the team these days.
And yeah, here he is pulling out a really, really good win, a proper grass court tennis, just exposing Mensik in the end and now setting up a clash against Matteo Berrettini, of all people. It's only round three that, but it feels like so much has already happened. But even in isolation, it feels like it doesn't really matter because he had this moment getting choked up in the interview and showing everybody still how he can play.

**Catherine** (3:30)
Guy Dixon on the live chat says, 25 years since Goran's wild card win, Grigor could replicate this in 2026 So we're all keeping our heads about the Grigor Dimitrov situation.

**Matt** (3:40)
Can I tell you something?

**David** (3:41)
While you were having a chat over there. Matthew leant into me and he said, I think he's going to win the tournament.

**Catherine** (3:49)
Matthew that thought Sitsipas was beating Djokovic last night.

**Matt** (3:53)
And Pliskava was beating Djokovic.

**David** (3:55)
Yeah, but third time lucky guys.

**Matt** (3:57)
Third time, I like it. Yeah, Matthew keeps saying, I've got to get one of these.

**David** (4:00)
He seems really, really confident about it.

**Catherine** (4:04)
Wow.

**David** (4:05)
He just said, I don't think Djokovic is going to do it. I think he's going to do it.

**Catherine** (4:10)
There is also Yannick Sinner.

**David** (4:11)
I know, but Matthew knows that he was two sets to love up against Yannick Sinner. He's proved he can do it.

**Matt** (4:19)
Well, I'm not getting that carried away. I'm just focusing on tonight and the joy of tonight. Dimitrov's little, almost like dance at the end when he'd won. He started kicking his feet, all sort of giggling like a kid. And even Mensik looked thrilled at the net for him.
You know?

**Catherine** (4:39)
Very Casparuzza.

**Matt** (4:41)
Yeah, everyone loved Grigor. And oh, what a moment. Yeah, what a moment. And look, he kind of stole the third set in a way.