Almost exactly one year ago, Grigor Dimitrov walked off Centre Court at Wimbledon in tears. A torn right pectoral muscle had ended his match against Jannik Sinner before he could finish what had been some of the best tennis he had played in years. On Thursday, he walked off Court One emotional again, but this time for a very different reason.
According to BBC Sport, Dimitrov, competing as a wildcard and currently ranked 146th in the world, defeated Czech 15th seed Jakub Mensik 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-5 6-3 to advance to the third round of Wimbledon 2026. He will next face Italy's Matteo Berrettini.
The match carried weight from the opening game. As Dimitrov closed in on victory, the roof on Court One began to close, triggering a 10-minute delay. It was nearly identical to what happened on Centre Court in 2025, when a roof closure interrupted his match against Sinner at a critical moment.
"I looked up four or five times, hoping that I was going to finish the match before they decided to close the roof," Dimitrov said. "It was almost like deja vu, but all you can do is smile. What happened in the past stays there and I have to embrace what comes next, whether it is good or bad."
There was no heartbreak this time. Dimitrov held on, won, and then addressed the crowd that had cheered him throughout the match. He became emotional again, as he had after his first-round win earlier in the tournament.
"I'm very emotional and a little bit overwhelmed at the moment. All I wanted to do is just come out and fight, that was my goal. I didn't even think about winning or losing, I didn't even think about my body to that extent," he said. "The atmosphere was just spectacular as always. I feel so loved and so supported everywhere in the world, but coming to Wimbledon is extra special for me and I want you guys to know that. The path here has been so difficult. It is all about conquering myself and playing tennis like I did today, regardless of the outcome."
The path Dimitrov described has been a long one. The pectoral tear he suffered during last year's Wimbledon match against Sinner was the fifth consecutive Grand Slam in which he had retired from a match due to injury. He did not return to the tour until October 2025. He missed the US Open entirely, ending a streak of 58 consecutive Grand Slam appearances. At the Australian Open this year, he lost in the first round. He did not make it through qualifying for the French Open.
Once nicknamed "baby Fed" for the similarity of his game to Roger Federer, Dimitrov was a former world number three who had seemed on the verge of a late-career resurgence before his body kept failing him. He has spoken openly about the mental toll the injuries took, saying the full weight of what happened at Wimbledon last year did not hit him until months after the fact.
Dimitrov's win over Mensik was one of the notable results in a Wimbledon draw that has already seen several upsets. Fourth seed Ben Shelton lost in a match tiebreak to Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen, while seeds Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Luciano Darderi, and Francisco Cerundolo all fell in the first round. On the women's side, French Open champion and fifth seed Mirra Andreeva lost to former Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 4-6 7-5 6-4 on Centre Court.
Top seed Jannik Sinner, the reigning men's champion, survived his own scare in the first round, needing five sets to beat Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic. He is scheduled to play Jenson Brooksby in the third round. Seventh seed Novak Djokovic is still in the draw and remains a possible semi-final opponent for Sinner.
Dimitrov's third-round match against Berrettini is next.
