Diego Schwartzman said goodbye to Buenos Aires, in tears: “I achieved much more than I always dreamed. Until always, dear tennis ”| ATP Tour

Diego Schwartzman

Schwartzman said goodbye in Buenos Aires: “I achieved much more than I always dreamed of”

The ex No. 8 of the world ends an outstanding career at the ATP Tour

February 13, 2025

Diego Schwartzman played the last professional tennis game of his life. Between tears, 6-2 and 6-2 fell against Pedro Martínez in the round of 16 of the IEB+ Argentina open a sunny Thursday in Buenos Aires.

After an epic victory against the last finalist Nicolas Jarry on Wednesday that gave him another life, finally came the last day for the Argentine as the protagonist within a tennis court. Behind that rolling mountain of emotions is the pride of duty (and a capital dream) fulfilled: its tour in the tour will remain as a mark, regardless of the records, of a tennis player who enclosed as a reference of the players who are looking for progress beyond difficulties, based on discipline, passion and ability to compete.

The unanimous consideration for “the little one” is not only a recognition at the local level, or in a tournament that had it as a reference, but also at the global level. Schwartzman, the tennis player on whom experts claimed that he could not reach the elite due to his height, has been challenging any agorero forecast over and over again, since he began playing tennis at age seven. Always with a smile, always onwards, as it made it clear competing against Jarry and also today, trying to travel the moment as he could one last time at the Guillermo Vilas stadium and that, for several passages, did it very well in the week.

𝗠𝗨𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗦, 𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗚𝗢 👏🏻@dhicanwartzman | @Argentinaopen | #ArgOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/2sOOoqRGbY

– ATP Tour en Español (@atppour_es) February 13, 2025

The broken voice, the unstoppable crying and the standing ovation that the old No. 8 of the PIF ATP raks were received is, in large part, an ode to that constant challenge to the pessimistic expectations: Schwartzman wanted it more than anyone and achieved what very few.

Several years ago, already measured that his illusion and his level grew from the age of seven, probably his greatest concern and that of his family was how to face economic expenses to be able to develop in a “expensive” sport. When Schwartzman was 13 years old, a doctor told him that it would never be higher than 1.70my, at that time, it was a bucket of cold water, he did not know if he wanted to continue playing tennis.

However, “the little one”, nickname that he won affectionately many years later, he never lost his focus and went if he had a prize. With four ATP Tour titles (Istanbul 2016, Rio 2018, Los Cabos 2019 and Buenos Aires 2021) and ten finals, the Semifinals of Roland Garros 2020 or their classification for the Nitto ATP Finals of London 2020, the Buenos Aires built in the ATP Tour its best works.

Buenos Aires, of course, was always a special place for Schwartzman, where he “collapsed” on the stands to go to see his idols, there he won his first ATP Tour match in 2013, he was champion of the tournament in the 2021 edition and finalist of The 2019 and 2022 editions, in addition to being the fifth Argentine tennis player with the most leading parties played in the history of the tournament, with 29, along with Nalbandian and only surpassed by Monaco (34), Acassusus (34) and Chela.

For the 32 -year -old right -handed the result against Martínez will simply be one more line of a multi -chapter novel, because it was already “retiring”, how he acknowledged after making the decision and announcing it in May, almost a year ago. His goodbye of the court was with a corridor of colleagues, former coaches and friends, better impossible.

How did you prepare for this moment? Enjoying the day to day, in his new life of “No Tenista” and in the small moments: for the first time since he was 16 years old he went on vacation, for example.

It happens that for more than a decade and a half, January and February were intense months for Schwartzman, with the start of the season in Australia and then, with the Latin tour of brick dust and the possibility of playing at home, something that did not happen in The rest of the year. This goodbye, then, comes to close the perfect circle.

However, if there is something that generates pride in all this path traveled to Schwartzman is that he could make the decision to say goodbye himself. “I could understand my body, understand my head and know that I had been exhausted for a while and that I could not sustain what I always did very good way … I achieved much more than I always dreamed. Until always, dear tennis, ”he told atptour.com.

Within the court, of course, its values ​​became inescapable, such as regularity and sustaining themselves at the top of the tour, ‘being elite’, for more than a decade. There are two underangation gusts that support it: Schwartzman was able to dispute 36 Grand Slams, from Roland Garros in 2014, and said in 52 Main Draw consecutive in ATP Masters 1000 events, for more than seven years.

Almost a whole decade being present in the four majors of the year, and with more than prominent results: in addition to the semifinal in Roland Garros in 2020 as a best record, Schwartzman twice reached the quarterfinals of the French tournament (2018 and 2021) and of the US Open (2017 and 2019).

In the ATP Masters 1000, since March 2017, when he acted in the first round of Indian Wells, every time the Argentine enrolled in a 1000 Masters, he did it by entering the Main Draw. He was also five years without leaving the thirty best players in the world at the PIF ATP Rankings.

What awaits you for the future? “I want to help tennis in Latin America organizing tournaments or being part of the present and the future of Argentine tennis in some way,” he acknowledged these days.

Schwartzman is an empathic tennis player, of those who always looked humbly for the side, to see, genuinely, what happened to the people around him. Top, the little one goes for everything: he wants to enjoy the rest of his life, and that the boys and girls who aspire to make a path in the tennis do not lack opportunities and can fulfill their dreams as he did. With a racket in his hand, and the racket on his shoulder, Schwartzman made it clear that it is possible.