The great opportunity for Dimitrov

The Bulgarian is taking advantage of the defeat of seeded player Moutet to have a much more manageable second round, at least on paper.

Dimitrov is going from one small lefty profile to another, but this one is a bit less tricky and more classical in his way of playing. Shelbayh is a player we discovered a few years ago at the Next Gen Masters in particular, but he’s never really managed to confirm his potential. Maybe he just needs a bit more time and this could be the tournament where he explodes, which wouldn’t be a surprise either given that he was trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in conditions that could help him perform as if he were playing at home. Watch out, he’s just knocked out Moutet and earned himself an exceptional win. He’ll now face Dimitrov, who is no longer the same player he once was, so maybe he can take advantage of that. In any case, his game is quite simple. He’s not super powerful, he moves well, he handles the game nicely with his lefty touch and he’s solid. He’s a player who can drag you into his tempo and get through matches that way.

Dimitrov is clearly searching for himself in this 2026 season, and he himself says that he’s lowered his expectations in order to operate match by match and sort of start again from the bottom, even in terms of mentality. It’s true that his level is very worrying every time we see him on the main tour, and his poor results at Challenger level only confirm the trend. His match today in the first round against Paulmans was overall very good, but he could have given himself a scare in the second set. Personally, I’m still not convinced by the quality of his current game, but we have to admit that he still has another round well within his reach, and that even in this state, he’s a huge favorite in this match.