Dimitrov Watch: Stockholm Edition

The 18-year-old up-and-comer from Bulgaria is hailed as the second coming of Federer. He even employs Federer’s old coach, Peter Lundgren who thinks Dimitrov is better than Federer when he was that age. Last year, the Bulgarian won the Wimbledon and US Open junior titles. This year, he is trying to transfer to the professional tour this year. As in any transition to the pros, there are a lot of losses.

So far, he has made it to the quarterfinals on the challenger circuit in Cremona, Nottingham, and Segovia. On the pro circuit, he made it to the second round in Queen’s Club and Rotterdam where he upset Tomas Berdych. Yesterday, he was 4-5 on the pro circuit.

Today, he met Jarkko Nieminen in Stockholm. The Fin returned to the tour after being sidelined with injury, so it would have been a good opportunity for the Bulgarian to upset the veteran. Nieminen instead spanked the Bulgarian teen 6-0 6-2 after just 50 minutes of work. The loss brings Dimitrov’s year-to-date record to 4-6, as the season comes to a close. It will be interesting to see Dimitrov's progress next year.

(Images: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)