"Have I made mistakes? Yes": Grigor Dimitrov refuses to focus on "missed opportunites" ahead of 2023 Paris Masters final

Grigor Dimitrov has stressed that he is refusing to focus on "missed opportunities" ahead of his clash with Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Paris Masters final.

The World No. 17 is set to play his first ATP Masters 1000 final since 2017 when he defeated Nick Kyrgios in Cincinnati. Dimitrov has seen some successful results throughout the 2023 season, making the final of the Geneva Open where he finished as runner-up to Nicolas Jarry, and reaching the semi-finals of the DC Open and Chengdu Open.

However, he seemed to really pick up momentum toward the end of the season after he defeated World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz at the Shanghai Masters last month before going on to reach the semi-finals. Then, he overcame a tight battle against World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in his second-round match in Paris before continuing to progress at the tournament.

The final against World No. 1 Djokovic will be Dimitrov's biggest opportunity for an ATP title since he won the 2017 ATP Finals six years ago. This led the 32-year-old to reflect on his past mistakes while also stressing that he does not feel sorry for himself due to missed chances in his career.

"I want to win or lose on my own terms. That brings me back again to another point, how everything has been happening on and off the court in my life is the same thing.

"I can control my attitude, and I don't want to feel sorry for myself for the past years. I don't want to feel like I have missed opportunities. Yes, have I? Yeah, of course, too many, if you ask me. Have I made mistakes? Yes, too many," he said.

"There comes a point where it's like, okay, I'm accepting all that had been thrown at me, what I had to face, and I continue. I get to have another chance. So when you get that chance, try to use it. So I'm trying to give myself a chance," he continued.

Nevertheless, it will be a difficult task to defeat Djokovic, who leads their head-to-head 11-1. Dimitrov has not won a match against him since the 2013 Madrid Open. However, the Bulgarian player has already shown his ability to pull off major upsets against Alcaraz and Medvedev, meaning that anything could still be possible.