Tennis News • Dimitrov Wins In Spite Of Warmup Outfit, Federer And Djokovic Also Advance At Australian Open

By Ricky Dimon

Most wardrobe malfunctions involve clothes coming off.

The problem with Grigor Dimitrov’s wardrobe–as any women in attendance at the Australian Open on Monday would especially agree–was that it stayed on.

Dimitrov sported what can only be considered a dreadful warmup outfit when he arrived at Melbourne Arena for his first-round match against Juan Ignacio Londero. To be more specific, it was a dark purple tracksuit with various yellow circles and other shapes littered throughout.

“I have [no] problem wearing anything, pretty much,” Dimitrov explained. “I actually love it. I love colors…. I love experimenting as well and when [I’m] out there, I don’t really think that much of the outfit. But it’s so good to feel comfortable. I’ve been fortunate with Nike to be able to have quite a bit of my input…. I love being different when it comes to things like that and so many other things. I think the outfit is fun. I don’t want to be vanilla.”

If the world No. 18 wasn’t one thing on Monday, it’s vanilla. Neither was his current coach Andre Agassi back in the early stages of his playing career.

“Andre was very happy with it,” Dimitrov assured. “He was impressed. He was like, ‘Wow, I know where that comes from!’”

The Bulgarian clearly didn’t warm up well in the tracksuit and started slow before recovering for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, 6-4 win over Londero. Dimitrov awaits either Tommy Paul or Leonardo Mayer in round two, and a showdown with Paul could result in dueling tracksuits because Paul is a fellow Nike client and also not one to shy away from clothing shenanigans.

In actual on-court tennis news, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic made their way into the second round Down Under. Federer trounced Steve Johnson, while Djokovic dropped a set to Jan-Lennard Struff in the nightcap but still prevailed 7-6(5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

“I just haven’t played proper matches in many, many weeks, and a lot of guys–probably 95 percent of the guys–are coming here with matches,” the 38-year-old Swiss explained. “So I’m not one of those guys. Now I have one. Best of five, too, which is even better.

So I think for me really the first three rounds are key to get going, to get used to the pressure, stay calm, when to save breakpoint or 30-all points or whatever it may be or just to stay calm if you’re down a set and a break or whatever it might be. This is sort of the unknown that can be a little bit scary at times. But today there was none of that because I broke early each set and was able to get on a roll, play freely after that. And also felt I had margin. You know, anything I was doing I felt like I had the game under control.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.

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