Bulgarian tennis star Grigor Dimitrov recounts early struggles during childhood

Former World No.3 Grigor Dimitrov recently opened up about his early years as a tennis prodigy in his native country of Bulgaria. The Haskovo native revealed he trained in unfavorable and hostile conditions as a child, but that only served to motivate him to succeed.

Dimitrov is experiencing a resurgence of sorts on the ATP Tour this season. Having compiled a 24-7 match record thus far, he has seen his ranking rise to World No.10. The Bulgarian won his first title in over six years at Brisbane earlier this year, before finishing runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open in March.

The 32-year old is currently competing at the Rome Open, where he is slated to face American Taylor Fritz in the round of 16. During a brief appearance on The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, he was asked by the host to describe his time growing up in Bulgaria as a budding tennis player.

"Not easy," responded Dimitrov. "I grew up in a very small tennis stop south of a province in Bulgaria. And winters, we had to play in school halls, me and my dad every morning had to put up scotch tapes for lines. Windows were broken, it was -10 degrees, it was freezing. It was in a school hall where they played handball. I had to get up every morning, and we used to pull up nets and two metal poles. And, yeah, this is how my day was beginning."