Adios, Schwartzman!
Eman Sadikovic (bloggeroftennis)
Student at Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
Former world no.8. Named after Maradona. Roland Garros semifinalist. The shortest player in top 10 since 1981 when Harold Solomon entered that elite group. Four ATP titles. Reached the semifinal of the Roland Garros in doubles. Reached the final of the Masters in Rome in both singles and doubles plus one more Madrid Masters final in doubles. Four times, his road at the Grand Slams ended in the quarterfinals. Qualified for the ATP Finals. – Diego Schwartzman
The 32-year-old Argetinian will play his final tournament this week in Buenos Aires, in the city where he was born. Potentially, his last match will be tonight against Nicolas Jarry. If you asked him which loss is one of the most painful, I'm quite sure he would say the 2019 Argentina Open when he lost in the final to Cecchinato 6-1 6-2. However, two years later, Diego won that tournament. The same tournament where he will say goodbye to professional tennis.
Diego had 13 top 10 wins in his very successful career. Among those 13 wins, there are two which I would mention as the biggest in his career. Both wins came in 2020, a few weeks separated.
The 1st one was against the King of Clay – Rafael Nadal. The match was played in the quarterfinals of Rome Masters when Schwartzman upset Rafa in a tournament where he was dominant for years (in fact, Nadal was dominant on every clay tournament he played, right!?)
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The 2nd outstanding win in Diego's career came against his great friend, in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros, Dominic Thiem. More than five hours of high-quality, entertaining tennis resulted in Schwartzman not only defeating a new Grand Slam champion back then, but also he reached the semifinals of the Grand Slam.
In his career, Diego defeated Cilic and Zverev at the US Open as well as Nishikori while they were top 10 players. The biggest title of his career came in Rio de Janeiro in 2018 when Schwartzman defeated Verdasco in the final.
Diego, good luck in the next chapter of your life!