Diego Schwartzman: My little body challenged the greatest stars | ATP Tour

In the first person

Diego Schwartzman: My little body challenged the greatest stars

The Argentine reflects in the first person about his career

February 10, 2025

Diego Schwartzman will close his career in professional tennis after competing this week at Argentina Open of his BUENOS AIRES.

The Argentine completed a notable sports career, becoming one of the 12 players in his country capable of breaking into the top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings, competing in the Nitto ATP Finals and battling face to face with some of the best tennis players in history .

Before saying goodbye to the track, Schwartzman wrote a letter to fans, describing in the first person the reasons for his retirement, the lessons learned along the way and much more.

Last month I was in Uruguay enjoying a vacation with my family when a 22 or 23 -year -old French boy approached me. He told me the following: “I remember when you were playing with Rafa in Roland Garros and began to rain!”

They were the quarterfinals of 2018, I was going to win Rafa with set and break up when the rain forced us to stop until the next day. Rafa ended up winning the game and the tournament. I lost seven times in the second week of a Grand Slam against Rafa or Nole. I was playing at a high level. If I had not had one of those guys along the way, I think it could have come even further in these tournaments.

But I feel a great pride for never having given up these legends without fighting, that is something that fans are going to be agreed.

Do not play tournaments from the US Open last year and I have been able to do things like practicing snowboard With the family or some paddle. From time to time a fan tells me beautiful things, it gives me a hug and things like that. That is very special.

This week I will retire after Argentina Open from Buenos Aires. Although I have felt something sad lately seeing tennis knowing that this moment would come, everything is positive. I have great memories and many moments to celebrate. I had the opportunity to fulfill many dreams and get many more things that people believed possible.

You may have a small body, but I battle the best players in history.

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The beginning of the end of my career took place in Hamburg 2022.

I lost a very disputed game in the first round, but something was not right. My body did not answer the questions that day. I felt strange emotions during the game. My hands were trembling and I had cramps.

I thought it could be some tiredness and would be solved with rest. Just two minutes after leaving the court, I sat with my coach Juan Ignacio Chela. He asked me several questions about my body, about my sensations on the court and about the game. The sensations were simply different.

Sometimes that happens to tennis players. For a few weeks something does not work in your tennis and in your head. You’re going home, you rest, you recover and that helps. But, in this case, I felt something different. It was no longer the same.

At the end of 2022 I thought things were improving. I did a good preseason and felt good for the following year.

However, at the end of the brick dust tour, I knew the end would arrive sooner or later. After going to Australia and competing in South America, he had only won a game. The feeling I had in Hamburg had returned. I stole, my body did not collaborate. He was unable to answer. I was suffering and did not enjoy the process.

To compete at the highest level you need to train and do everything with a certain order, so it was complicated. I changed physical trainer and coaches. Perhaps it was time to modify something, listen to different voices and value new ways of working. But it was not the right decision.

It was me. Of no one else.

What I did for many years helped me get many things in our sport. In the US Open 2017, I was preclassified in a Grand Slam for the first time and reached the quarterfinals. If I look back, I had a great opportunity to reach the semifinals against Pablo Carreño Busta.

At that time, I took my career to a new level. After that moment, I understood how my body was going to feel after five sets. I knew what it was to be in the second week of a Grand Slam.

The following year I first arrived at Top 20. In 2020, I reached the Semifinals of Roland Garros, signed the best position of my career as No. 8 of the PIF ATP Rankings and competed in the Nitto ATP Finals. In March of the following year I won my fourth and last ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires. It was a magical moment for a boy from Argentina.

During all that time I learned that being successful involves a lot of work. There are many important details: nutrition, mentality, have the right people around and have confidence in your skills and preparation. I gave everything.

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^{Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}

My tennis went beyond the right and setbacks. Sometimes I entered the court thinking about how to break my rival. It is ironic that, in the end, tennis has broken me and has written the end.

But I accept it. I am happy. If you had told Diego when I was a boy what I got, my answer would have been simple: ‘It is impossible.’

My first steps were not economical for my family. I was traveling with my mother and we never had a TV at the hotel. In almost all tournaments we shared a bed. Once we stayed in a room for two pesos a night.

We were looking for a way to earn money that would allow me to travel. We come to sell rubber bracelets to pay those trips. When he reached the tournaments he tried to sell them. Other boys helped us and gave them part of the profits.

How did I get so far? I have no idea.

I knew he was a good player, I’m still noticing when training. I’m still good. I had four or five years to the highest level but, if I am sincere, I did not know that I was going to get so high.

Many people talked about my stature: 170 centimeters. I did not like during my career, because when I made great tournaments they all asked me how I had done it and how I was going to win the next game.

All questions revolved around my weight, my height and details about a small body. No one is at the top without great stature, it’s true. There are hardly any players in the top 100 with my height. I’m not going to lie, it was complicated.

I had to work very hard out of the court so that my rivals did not feel that I had less strength, that my movements were limited, … Without a doubt, the stature is very important to play tennis. But more than 50% of the games that are based on what you do outside the court.

I love when people tell me: “You were a fighter, but you were also a great tennis player.” Simply fighting you will not reach the top of the sport. You need to play tennis well. You have to have a good right, a good serve, move well. If you only fight you will not get up.

I was there because it was good in this sport. No one has given me anything, I won it.

When I was a boy I didn’t expect to get all this. However, I won my place throughout my career.