Grigor Dimitrov attacked by audience, risked ‘Royal Rumble’ with fans

After his victory in the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters against Australian Alexei Popyrin, defeated 7-6(5) 6-2 in an hour and a half, Grigor Dimitrov was greeted outside the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, home of the Chinese ATP Masters 1000, by a crowd of fans who surrounded him for a photo or an autograph.

An unpleasant walk among the enthusiasm of the fans, which caused an unexpected setback for the Bulgarian champion, at the exit of the field.

Trying to walk among the Chinese supporters, the exuberance of some fans almost caused the Bulgarian tennis player’s downfallwho seemed quite irritated. Dimitrov even looked for the perpetrator, He pointed his finger at him and came menacingly over to face him head-on.

The intervention of security personnel prevented the situation from heating up further and Dimitrov was removed.

Grigor, who has had another positive season after many years in the shadows, conditioned by injuries and lack of continuity, is still in the race for a place at the ATP Finals in Turin and the Chinese ATP Master 1000 represents one of the last opportunities to earn points useful for obtaining the pass for the tournament at the end of the year.

Below you can see the videos shared on X by @MeanMint360365 and @Olly_Tennis_:

Gregor was angry. No idea what exactly happened. He may have been tripped by a fan on his way out after the game pic.twitter.com/gqu3RqQc5p

— MeanMin (@MeanMint360365) October 8, 2024

It seems that someone tripped Dimitrov after the match, Grigor was very dissatisfied with it. Not the best security… pic.twitter.com/ijF3zvL2FV

— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) October 8, 2024

On the eve of the Popyrin challenge, the Bulgarian had spoken about his future at the rpess conference, revealing:

“Now I’m at an age where the victory doesn’t matter to me, but how the match went and how I did it, this is the true art of our sport. Everything that happens now is positive for me, because of the Over the years I have come to appreciate everything we have, sometimes I think I have been on the circuit for 16 years and that is positive. You see that time passes and so I try not to think about it, but only about it to think today, let’s be. To be honest, I’m more at the end now than at the beginning of my career and I’m aware of it. Everything that happens on the field is positive for me and I don’t look at numbers or certain results My career is similar to how I behaved off the court. Sometimes you want to make changes, but in the end they affect everything and so the give and take is the condition until the end to enjoy every moment I play and not think about the result.”