The Players Lounge at the Aegon Championships is the most spacious part of the over-crowded nineteenth century clubhouse at the Queen’s Club. Spread over a couple of indoor courts, it enables one to move freely; eat sumptuously; read the papers and go on line.

So I took the opportunity to sit down to chat with Peter Lundgren who had more than a passing interest in the French Open final as well goings on here where his new charge, the 18-year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov won a round in the main draw as a wild card.

Lundgren, of course, was Roger Federer’s coach when he ascended to the top of the tennis world — a journey you can follow in the revised version of Chris Bowers’ excellent biography of Federer called a Spirit of a Champion. And, as a Swede, he had followed the sudden explosion in Robin Soderling’s fortunes in Paris with interest and no small measure of surprise.

“Yes, I must admit I was surprised at Soderling reaching the final,” said Lundgren. “He’d never passed the third round of a Slam before and to beat Nadal was just something I never expected. But he hit the ball hard and there is no question that, despite the weaknesses in his game, he has the weapons. Whether he can kick on from there is open to debate. If people in Sweden think he is going to reach the final at Wimbledon I think they will be disappointed.”

Lundgren, however, has no doubt about what a terrific effect Soderling’s success will have on Swedish tennis.

“As soon as he beat Nadal, tickets for the ATP tournament in Bastad in July started selling like crazy,” Lundgren said. “People see it on TV and the kids get excited and everyone wants to go to the tennis again. But Soderling alone is not going to save Swedish tennis. At the moment the coaching simply isn’t good enough. There are too many 18-year-olds who didn’t make it as players teaching at clubs and they don’t have enough experience. And the incentives are not big enough. Life is too easy. It’s no co-incidence that so many players are coming out of Eastern Europe. They want to achieve, they want to make something of themselves. They put in the work and find good coaches.”

Federer put in the work and Lundgren, by his side through his late teens when he was struggling to produce the results that people expected of him, never lost faith in Roger’s potential.

“I texted him after he won in Paris and said, ‘I always told you could do it,’ and he texted back saying that he remembered how I was always telling him he could achieve anything.”

Lundgren laughed delightedly. Few people know Federer as intimately and he can track the important moments of his career better than most.

“The real turning point came at that first Tennis Masters Cup in Houston in 2003 when he beat the three players he always had the most trouble with — Andre Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Nalbandian,” Lundgren recalled. “He actually beat Agassi twice — in the round robin and then again in straight sets in the final. That was the breakthrough. After that there was no stopping him.”

And even from a distance, Lundgren is still able to predict important moments. He was watching Federer’s first doubles match in Beijing when he set off on a path that would bring him and Stan Warwinka Switzerland’s first gold medal.

“I was interested to see how he would approach it and what sort of form he was in,” Lundgren remembered. “The match was on TV at home and he won his first service game to love. ‘That’s it,’ I said to my wife. ‘They’ll win now.’ She didn’t understand how I could be so sure but I just knew. And I knew it would give him a huge lift for the US Open which he won a few weeks later. Winning with Stan made it all the more special for him because he’s such an emotional guy as people have come to realize. He felt he’d done something great for his partner and his country and that carried over into the US Open.”

Lundgren was not surprised to hear that Soderling had admitted after losing to Federer in the Roland Garros final that he felt the Swiss had not allowed him to play.

“I can play against Nadal but Federer doesn’t let me play,” Soderling had admitted.

“I can see that,” said Lundgren. “Roger has all the shots; he got Soderling out of his hitting zone because he plays fast  but changes pace and uses the court so differently to all the other players. I know from just practicing with him through all those years that it is impossible to find your rhythm. He has you all over the place.”

It comes as no surprise to hear Lundgren wax lyrical about the young man he is now coaching. And he is to be taken seriously when he says he thinks Dimitrov has even more potential now than Federer did at the same age.

“He’s just a better player — especially mentally — than Roger was at this stage,” he said. “He has better volleys and his game has everything. There is something special about him. He is not cocky but very self assured and open — similarities with Roger in that respect.”

Dimitrov was brought up as a player by his father Dimitar, whom Lundgren praises for having done a great job, at the Tennis Club in Haskovo, Bulgaria where he was born. As soon as his talent became apparent, he was sent to the Sanchez-Casal camp in Barcelona to work with Pato Alvarez, the veteran coach who helped Andy Murray in his formative years. By then he had already won the Under 16 Orange Bowl and after going on to become Wimbledon and US Open Junior Champion last year, he switched to the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy in Paris soon after Lundgren joined as a senior coach. 

“I took on Grigor in March and I have been very impressed with him,” said Lundgren. “He is very motivated and I can see he really wants it. And it is fun because I feel I am a better coach now than I was back in the Federer days. You are always learning and I have more experience.”

Dimitrov is getting the results to back up Lundgren’s optimism. In Rotterdam earlier this year he beat Tomas Berdych and then took a set off Nadal before losing 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Here at Queen’s, where he made a point of thanking tournament director Chris Kermode profusely for his wild card, he accentuated his prowess on grass by defeating the Spaniard Ivan Navarro in the first round and then pushed former top tenner Gilles Simon hard before going down 7-6(7), 7-6(5).

So watch out for young Grigor. Three Maleeva sisters are all Bulgaria has had to offer the tennis world so far. Dimitrov is about to change all that and what if Lundgren is right — what if he is as good as Federer? How exciting that would be.