Wimbledon 2023: Frances Tiafoe rues ‘depressing’ defeat to Grigor Dimitrov -‘It will hurt for a very long time’

Frances Tiafoe has described his straight-sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round of Wimbledon as “horrible” and “depressing”.

The 10th seed was beaten 6-2 6-3 6-2 in a match that was delayed because of rain after the first two sets took place on Saturday.

Dimitrov wrapped up the comfortable victory on Sunday in a match totalling 99 minutes having failed to face a single break point.

“This was a really bad match. Horrible, horrible stuff,” said Tiafoe.

“To play this poorly is very depressing, especially at Wimbledon. I genuinely think I am one of the best grass-court players in the world but I didn’t show it at all. I have to live with that.

“It will hurt for a very long time. I couldn’t hit the room or make him play. It is tough to digest. I’ve never really felt like this after a loss. I’m shocked by how I performed.

“I played horrendously and it is unacceptable to get broken that many times on grass.”

Taking the title in Stuttgart following his victory in the final over Jan-Lennard Struff raised expectations at Wimbledon and saw the American break into the top 10 of the ATP rankings.

Did that add any pressure? Tiafoe wasn’t prepared to offer any excuses for his performance, and he was not in any mood to celebrate his highest ever ranking either.

He said: “I am already winning in life so my defeat had nothing to do with expectations. I couldn’t care less about that.

“I want to win Slams for me, not for everybody else. It was just a bad performance. It’s tough to understand it, the why of it.

“I am top 10 in the world and played like I don’t have an ATP point. It was Godawful.

“It just hurts, man, and I don’t know how to digest it. I was planning to go home and celebrate being in the top 10. That is going to be tough now.

“Everyone will be excited to see me and I just won’t want to do anything.”

No. 24 Dimitrov, meanwhile, has reached the semi-finals at a grass-court major for the first time 2014.

“He’s such a dangerous player, I knew I had to be very focused,” said Dimitrov.

“He’s a player that has a lot of flare around the court. Great serve, great return, so I was just looking after my game, to be honest. The past weeks have been amazing weeks for me, out here in England. I’m just enjoying every single day.”

Up next for Dimitrov is a quarter-final encounter with sixth seed Holger Rune.

“For me, I’m not looking at any [external factors] right now,” said Dimitrov. “I’m just focusing on my side of the net and looking after my game. I really enjoy coming out here and am really enjoying playing at the moment a lot. I think the older I get, the more I enjoy it, which is interesting.

“It’s going to be one of those matches I have to take it like any other match. Of course he is young, talented and a very dangerous player, but so am I. Minus the young part!”

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