First Time With Damir Dzumhur

Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzogovina's No. 1, has gained Top 10 wins during the past 13 months against Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal. The 24-year-old Sarajevo native tells ATPWorldTour.com about how he got sick of playing Roger Federer, his first celebrity crush and why he decided to fly first class after the 2014 Australian Open.

First moment I realised I loved tennis
Maybe when I was 3 or 4. My dad was a tennis coach... I would go almost every day with him because I just liked it. No one was really pushing me. I wanted it.

First coach and most important lesson he/she taught me
My father... To always fight. I am trying to be a fighter. Sometimes I give up too early but it's the most important thing.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
I would say playing Roger Federer two years ago at Roland Garros. For me it was like a dream come true. He was my idol and I was dreaming of playing him. Then, in just 20 days, I played him at Roland Garros centre court, and then Wimbledon centre court.

After the second time, I said, “That's enough. That's enough. I don't need any more.. I wanted once but not that many”... Playing Wimbledon centre court against Roger, it was an amazing feeling. The first one at Roland Garros, I was playing really good. It was a good fight. At Wimbledon, I didn't really have a chance. But playing against Roger there, it's like his home.

I remember getting into the court. I was the first who got on the court. I got a big applause but then Roger when he got in, he got 10 times more applause. And after my applause, I thought no applause could be bigger. And his was 10 times bigger, and I was thinking, “OK, that's enough.”

View Federer and Dzumhur's FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry

First autograph or photo you got?
It was when I was maybe 14 or 15. I know I was really young but sometimes some people think, “Maybe he's going to be a good player. So I have to get his autograph.” I was playing at the European championships.

First celebrity crush?
One of them is Nicole Scherzinger. She was when I was really young [between 12 and 15 years old]. I know she is now with [Grigor] Dimitrov. That's nice. Ha, ha.

First pet?
Turtle. She was with us just for four months, and then she died. Three years ago, together with my girlfriend, I bought a dog, and then we bought another dog so we have two dogs called Floky (3) and Abba (1)... Miniature Schnauzers.

First time you flew first class?
Three years ago... When I won qualies and played third round of the Australian Open. That was a big week for me. So on the way back, I was flying first class... I had a flight with the economy class and I just took an upgrade. I said, “I got some good money, I want to enjoy this”... First class is so much different to economy class. Unfortunately you are not able to afford it every time you're traveling but for those longer flights, it really pays off to take first class... A lot of food, also a lot of sleep, a lot of good sleep, actually. I think getting first class is important because you feel like you're in a bed. You can sleep a lot. Every time I take first class, I sleep about 80 per cent of the flight.

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