Dimitar Kuzmanov

Dimitar Kuzmanov (, ; nickname: Miko; born 28 July 1993) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player who competes on the ATP Challenger Tour. His career-high singles ranking is No. 159 achieved on 29 August 2022 and his best doubles ranking is No. 438 achieved on 1 April 2019.

Early years and personal life Dimitar Kuzmanov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the son of Savko Kuzmanov (an aeronautical engineer) and Dora Rangelova (Bulgaria Fed Cup team's former tennis player and present team captain). His maternal family is entirely related to the sport. Dora's father Zdravko Rangelov, who is one of the founders of tennis in Plovdiv, has been a tennis player and longtime coach in Tennis Club Lokomotiv, whilst her mother has been a volleyball player and coach. Dora's brother, Stefan Rangelov is a former tennis player and present tennis coach. Kuzmanov began playing tennis aged six when his mother Dora took him to play on courts of Tennis Club Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and Stefan was the man, that gave him a tennis racket and started training. Through the years, Dimitar Kuzmanov has established himself as a player who has won many national and international tournaments, he is a champion of Bulgaria in different age groups and participant in Bulgaria national tennis teams, including Davis Cup team.

2008–2011: ITF Junior Tennis Kuzmanov started playing in ITF Junior Circuit in 2008 and even in his third participation in tournaments of this level he reached to a final – it happened at Dema Cup U18 – Sofia, Bulgaria, where he lost in a very competitive match. During the period 2008 – 2011 he made a record of 53–24 W/L in singles matches and 17–18 W/L in doubles matches in the main draw only. His most significant achievements are reaching to a final singles match at 2011 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters, Switzerland and semi-final doubles match at 2011 Roland Garros Junior Championships U18 – Paris, France, as well as winning 2 singles titles at Plovdiv Cup U18 – Plovdiv and Kenana CUP U18 – Haskovo in Bulgaria. and was honored as "Player of the Tennis Europe Junior for Boys U16 – 2009" becoming the first Bulgarian in the history who had won this prestigious award for this age group. He finished the year as No. 1 in Tennis Europe Ranking.

He continued to play ITF Junior Circuit and ITF Futures tournaments. He won the Academic Tennis tournament, organised by Bulgarian Tennis Federation.

2011: Davis Cup and top 1000 debut

The last year of playing ITF Junior Circuit tournaments was the most successful at this level. Kuzmanov became European vice-champion at 2011 European Junior Championships for Boys U18 – Klosters, Switzerland and played doubles semifinal (Partnering with Miki Jamkovic, SRB) at 2011 ITF Roland Garos Junior Championships – Paris, France. He raised his ATP ranking up to position No. 898 at the year end.

2011 is important as it is the year of Dimitar Kuzmanov's first participation at Davis Cup Event (vs. Belarus and later vs. Cyprus).

2012: First doubles ITF title He won his first doubles title at ITF Futures F10 Tournament – Antalya, Turkey, partnering compatriot Tihomir Grozdanov. Late during the season, he played few singles and doubles finals and semi-finals at ITF Futures tournaments. As a Davis Cup player he played vs. Albania, Georgia and Macedonia. As a Davis Cup player he played vs. Finland and Estonia. and made his ATP main draw debut, losing in three sets by the world No. 96 Ričardas Berankis. Partnering with compatriot Alexander Lazov he played vs. future tournament champions Matwe Middelkoop and Wesley Koolhof, losing in three sets. Late during the season, he played five singles finals, one doubles final, one singles and one doubles semi-finals at ITF Futures level, as well as QF at ATP Challenger Tour Marburg Open, Germany. As a Davis Cup player Kuzmanov played vs. Turkey and was nominated to play vs. Tunisia, but he didn't play because of trauma.

In March 2021, Kuzmanov reached his first ATP Challenger final at the Zadar Open in Croatia which he lost 6-2/2-6/6-7(5) to Serbian Nikola Milojevic. It was the longest Challenger final for the season registered at three hours and seven minutes. A week later, in April, he followed with a quarterfinal showing at the Open de Oeiras Challenger. Thanks to these great results, he reached his best singles ranking of World No. 237 in singles.

Kuzmanov made his Grand Slam debut at the 2021 French Open as a qualifier in singles where he lost to No. 12 seeded Bolivian Hugo Dellien in three sets. He also entered the qualifications at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career where he also lost to Marius Copil in straight sets. He lost in the first round of qualifications to Copil again at the 2021 US Open.

Kuzmanov received a wildcard at the 2021 Sofia Open for the sixth year in a row. He defeated Lorenzo Musetti in a tight three set match over 3 hours to finally record his first win at his home tournament. Kuzmanov became the second Bulgarian to win a match in the main draw in Sofia after Grigor Dimitrov, who won the tournament title in 2017. As a result, he reached a new career-high ranking of No. 218 on 4 October 2021.

In the following week Kuzmanov made another strong showing at the 2021 Sánchez-Casal Cup in Barcelona, where he won his maiden ATP Challenger title, becoming just the fifth Bulgarian champion in ATP Challenger Tour's history and the first since Grigor Dimitrov in 2011. He did not lose a set against former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo, 4th seed Damir Dzumhur, Teymuraz Gabashvili and 2nd seed Alex Molcan en route to the final, in which he beat the top seed Hugo Gaston 6–3 6–0. As a result, he reached a new career-high ranking of No. 189 on 18 October 2021 breaking into the top 200 for the first time.

2022: First Major qualification win, top 160, Seventh Sofia Open wildcard After losing in the first qualifying round in his first three Grand Slam appearances in 2021, Kuzmanov recorded his maiden win at that level at the 2022 Australian Open. The Bulgarian advanced to the second round of qualifying after a 4–6 6–3 7–6(5) win over Daniel Masur before bowing out to Tobias Kamke in the next round.

In February, Kuzmanov defeated the 2nd and 3rd seeds Hugo Grenier and Enzo Couacaud at the Bengaluru Open on the way to his third ATP Challenger final, where he lost in straight sets to top seed Aleksandar Vukic.

In May he reached the third round of qualifying at the 2022 French Open defeating Flavio Cobolli in three sets, getting one step closer to the main draw. He lost to Santiago Rodriguez Taverna in the third round of qualifying. Kuzmanov repeated his success at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, where he once again reached the third round of qualifying, but ultimately couldn't make the step further to his maiden main draw appearance, losing out in four sets to Enzo Couacaud. At the US Open he reached the third round of qualifying for the third time in a row but bowed out to the No. 303 ranked ATP tour debutant Brandon Holt.

For the seventh year in a row Kuzmanov received a main draw wildcard at the 2022 Sofia Open, but he couldn't replicate his last year's success and lost in straight sets to qualifier Ugo Humbert in the first round.

He finished the season in the top 200 for the second year in a row at No. 195 on 21 November 2022. Two days later he was confirmed as a participant at the inaugural 2023 United Cup as part of the Bulgarian team.

2023–2025: United Cup debut, Two Challenger titles He won his second Challenger title at the 2024 President's Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan and became the oldest Bulgarian champion in Challenger history (since 1978). As a result, he returned to the top 300 in the rankings climbing more than 50 spots up.

Paired with Kazakhstani player Timofey Skatov Kuzmanov reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the newly established 2025 Crete Challenger defeating top seeds Christoph Negritu and Alexander Merino. He also won his third singles title at the second edition of the Crete Challenger after defeating Federico Cinà in straight sets in the final.

Coaching Kuzmanov first and main coach is his uncle Stefan Rangelov. Kuzmanov was also trained by former tennis player Valentin Dimov and by Bulgaria Fed Cup team's former tennis player and present captain, his mother Dora Rangelova.

Year-end ATP ranking Year „Sportsman №8 of Best 10 sportsmen of Plovdiv for 2009“ by Plovdiv Municipality „Young tennis talent for 2010" by Bulgarian Tennis Federation „Best young tennis player of Bulgaria for 2011" by Bulgarian Tennis Federation „Young talent of Bulgaria for 2011 – Sport category" by "Dimitar Berbatov" Foundation „Sportsman №3 of Best 10 young sportsmen of Bulgaria for 2011" by ViaSport „Sportsman №8 of Best 10 sportsmen of Plovdiv Municipality for 2011" by Plovdiv Municipality „Sportsman №8 of Best 10 sportsmen of Plovdiv Municipality for 2013" by Plovdiv Municipality „Sportsman №9 of Best 10 sportsmen of Plovdiv Municipality for 2017" by Plovdiv Municipality „Sportsman №4 of Best 10 sportsmen of Plovdiv Municipality for 2018" by Plovdiv Municipality