Bulgaria's first male racket Grigor Dimitrov intends to return to the professional tour of the ATP 500 series tournament in Vienna, which will be held from October 26 to November 1. Due to his current position in the world rankings, the Bulgarian does not enter the main draw directly, but is expected to receive an invitation („wild card“) from the organizers of the Erste Bank Open, Tenniscafe reports.
The tournament in the Austrian capital will gather an extremely strong line-up. World No. 1 Yannick Siner, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minor, Frances Tiafoe, Flavio Cobolli and Jakub Menschik have already submitted applications for participation.
The competition in the „Wiener Stadthalle“ is among Dimitrov's favorite stops on the calendar, having preferred it to the accompanying tournament in Basel for the past eight years. His best achievement in Vienna was reaching the semifinals in 2022. In his last appearance in 2024, he started with a victory over Jijen Can, then lost to Tomasz Mahach.
Before the official start of the competition, Dimitrov will have the opportunity to warm up the audience – on October 23, he will participate in the demonstrative format Red Bull Bassline along with five other leading tennis players.
The former world No. 3 is currently treating a nerve inflammation in his left thigh – an injury that led to his withdrawal from the Challenger 125 in Porto last week. During his recovery period, Dimitrov was also spotted among the special guests at the Lacoste fashion show in Paris to present the brand's new collection.