Tennis-Australian Open semis just the start for Dimitrov, says coach

By Simon Cambers MELBOURNE, Jan 26 (Reuters) - With nicknames like "Primetime" and "BabyFed", Grigor Dimitrov has had to deal with the kind of hype and expectation usually reserved for the likes of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. Up until the last few weeks, the Bulgarian has flattered to deceive, the occasional high countered by numerous false dawns and his high-profile relationships garnering more headlines than his exploits on the court. However, Dimitrov, who won in Brisbane at the start of the year, will get the chance to show he has turned the corner on Friday when he faces Nadal in the Australian Open semi-finals. Victory would put him in his first grand slam final. While Dimitrov grew to dislike the term "BabyFed", and as long ago as 2013 Federer said it was time to drop it, the 25-year-old's coach Dani Vallverdu said being compared to the 17-times grand slam champ did not actually inhibit his development. "I think if you're coming up as a young talent and they're comparing you to the best player in the history of the game, that's a good problem to have," Vallverdu told reporters. "It just depends how you deal with it. I don't think it has a negative effect on any player. I think it should only show yourself that you have it inside of you, and you have the chance to become great. "I think it puts pressure on you, but I think it's better to take the positives out of it and then work from that." SPEED OF SUCCESS Dimitrov seemed to be on the right track when he beat Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2014 to reach the semi-finals and broke into the top 10 for the first time. His relationship with former women's world number one Maria Sharapova seemed to be working wonders for him on the court but when the pair split in the middle of 2015, after two years together, Dimitrov lost his way. In July last year, he dropped to 40th in the rankings but his decision to hire Vallverdu, Murray's former coach, sparked a resurgence. "I have to give a lot of credit to my team, especially to my coach, to Daniel, to my fitness guy Sebastian (Duran), and then the other people that were there for me at the tough time," Dimitrov said. "We kept on working. We kept on doing the right things. I never felt that I was doing something wrong. I just felt that I was not playing and practising well, not doing the right things. "With the right set of people, things started to slowly move forward for me. Now I think I'm just in a good place." Vallverdu said the speed of Dimitrov's success had surprised him but the fact that he is playing so well had not. "I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect that it was going to go as it's going, but I'm not surprised that it's happening, because I've always told him, 'look, if you're putting in the work and you're competing hard, good things will come,'" he said. "It's gone extremely well, but it's just the beginning. It's a long year but it's very encouraging that it's started this way." (Editing by Peter Rutherford; )