Grigor Dimitrov says Covid-19 was “hard” on him and the effects of the virus are still being felt | Tennis

Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov explained his battle with Covid-19 in detail and said that “it is not fun” to deal with the physical and mental effects of the virus.

Like Novak Djokovic, the # 1 wife in the world, two other players and their coaches, Dimitrov contracted the virus while playing in the Adria Tour series of exhibitions last month in Serbia.

Former semi-finalist number 3 and Australian Open says that the ordeal has really rocked him and that he is still feeling the effects going on.

“[It’s’] still not easy to recover. The virus has been hard on me. I stayed home for about a month, “Dimitrov told Tennis Majors at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown at the Mouratoglou Academy in France.” I wasn’t breathing well, I wasn’t feeling well; tired. [I had] all symptoms: no taste, no smell, everything you could think of. So it wasn’t fun. “

Continuing to feel lethargic for several weeks and having lost three pounds, Dimitrov lost both games to the UTS to be the last in his pool behind Richard Gasquet, Feliciano Lopez and Australian Alexei Popyrin.

“Lucky to play right now,” said Dimitrov, adding that it has been a dubious start for the US Open starting a month from now. A semi-finalist in New York last year after eliminating Roger Federer, Dimitrov said that the whole experience, particularly that of isolation, was frightening.

“You are alone for about 20 days for 24 hours,” said the 29-year-old. “I spent over 5,000 hours alone. Many things go through your mind. No matter how mentally strong you are as a person or an athlete, bad thoughts are inevitable in your head. So I had to take care of it too, as did everyone else out there.

“This is one of my biggest messages – we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the mental state everyone is in. This is real. If we take the right precautions and everyone is safe, things will improve faster. But it’s a strange moment . “