Despite high hopes, Grigor Dimitrov's Roland Garros curse lives on after losing in the first round for the third straight year. On Monday, despite leading two sets to one, Dimitrov lost to Viktor Troicki, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. Last year, the 25-year-old fell to Jack Sock, and the year before that he was knocked out by Ivo Karlovic.
Earlier this year, the world No. 36 acknowledged his poor performance in Paris (his best showing is reaching the third round in 2013).
"[Roland Garros] is a tournament I’ve played not so good the past years," Dimitrov said in a one-on-one interview with Baseline in April. "That’s my goal to actually come back there and play better tennis, and definitely win some matches out there. I love playing on clay, I’ve always had good results on clay. This is the one tournament that’s been lacking a little bit to me. I want to break the spell."
I'll change my preparation a little bit more. I’ll do things a little differently when I get there, stay in a different hotel. I don’t know what else to try."
But the spell would not be broken. Dimitrov's unseeded position isn't doing him any favors, but it certainly seems he will need more than a different hotel to try to change his luck in 2017.
Since melting down in the Istanbul final against Diego Schwartzman, Dimitrov has lost three straight first-round matches.