Prankster Prince Grigor Dimitrov tricks ATP stars into saying silly phrases in Shanghai

It’s time for a Mandarin lesson!

The ATP stars were subjected to a trial by fire in the language courtesy of fellow player Grigor Dimitrov, who pulled off a stellar prank by feeding them a slew of silly phrases to say on camera.

Thinking they were being asked to read a few standard lines at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, everyone from Carlos Alcaraz to Daniil Medvedev fell for Dimitrov’s practical joke as Alcaraz imitated a goat while Medvedev unwittingly nailed his “This is going to be on TennisTV, bro!” catchphrase.

Meanwhile, the beloved Bulgarian veteran was having the time of his life in the booth, prodding the production team to push his fellow players to give their best attempts at speaking Mandarin, but not even Andrey Rublev got wise when he was asked to say what translated to “I love Grigor.”

“My sweetheart, my darling, my true love,” Dimitrov joked of his bestie, with whom he has cultivated a season-long bromance.

A former world No. 3, Dimitrov has been in the midst of a revelatory week on the court, as well, reminding the tennis world that he’s “still here" after stunning Alcaraz to reach the quarterfinals in Shanghai—his best Masters 1000 result all season.

“I'm really running my own race right now,” Dimitrov said after knocking out the top seed in three set.s “I really want to focus on what I'm doing. Whoever is winning, is losing, you know, that's in the draw. All I have to do is get out there on court, whoever I play, and do the best that I can.”

Check out the full video for the players’ subsequent reactions to the prank.