Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov has broken his 30-month title drought, beating Kei Nishikori 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, to win the Brisbane International on Sunday evening.
The title was Dimitrov's fifth of his career and first since June 2014, when he won Queen's Club in London.
The former-10 ranked player, who has well-known anger issues on court, after he was defaulted during a match last year after a third warning for racquet abuse, said he kept calm during the week in Brisbane by venturing to an arcade nightly with his team.
“It's given me tremendous joy from something so small,'' he said post match.
“We were the biggest kids out there, going at it for an hour and a half.
“I can't lock myself in a room thinking about tennis 24 hours (a day). It's brutal.''
Dimitrov, currently ranked 17th in the world, says he will not get ahead of himself following the breakthrough win will.
“I'll stay with my feet on the ground when I go to Melbourne,'' he said.
“Everyone can beat anyone now. Things are changing. The so-called traditional (leading) players are starting to slow down a little bit. We all see that.''
