As the celebrations began for Novak Djokovic’s record-extending 40th Masters 1000 title in Paris last weekend, at the side of the Bercy Arena’s vast indoor courts Grigor Dimitrov buried his face in his towel and tried hard to hold off his tears.
His emotion was understandable. Dimitrov had been playing some of the best tennis of his career, picking off Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to his second Masters 1000 final. He gave everything and yet suffered the same fate he has so many times: a demoralising defeat by Djokovic.
