Schwartzman confesses before his last professional tournament
Diego Schwartzman's last moments as a professional tennis player are this week.
Engaged in the ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires, which he will be playing in front of his home crowd, the 32-year-old Argentinian has decided to call it a day. In the next few hours, he will face Nicolas Jarry in the first round.
Before bidding farewell to tennis, the former world No. 8 and Roland Garros semi-finalist in 2020 confided in ATP and wrote a love letter, thanking tennis for everything it has brought him in his life, but also going back over the reasons that prompted him to stop his career.
"This week, I'll be retiring from the sport after the Buenos Aires tournament.
While it's been pretty sad for me to watch tennis lately since I knew this moment was coming, I want above all to look back on my best memories and achievements that I want to celebrate.
I've been lucky enough to achieve so many dreams, much more than people thought I was capable of.
The beginning of the end of my career came in Hamburg in 2022.
I lost in the first round in a close match, but I could feel that something was wrong. My body didn't answer the questions I was asking myself that day.
I was feeling a lot of emotions, but they weren't positive. My hands were shaking and I was cramping.
I told myself I was tired and needed to rest. Two minutes after leaving the court, I had a chat with Juan Ignacio Chela, my coach.
He asked me questions about my body and my physical condition during the match. These things happen to all tennis players.
For a few weeks, your state of mind and everything else just doesn't work. You go home, rest, and that helps you recover.
But this time it was different, I wasn't the same," explained the Argentinian.
"At the end of 2022, I felt that things were returning to normal. I'd had a good pre-season and was feeling good about starting the new year.
But during the South American tour, I felt that the end was going to come sooner or later, perhaps sooner than expected. After the Australian Open, I only won one match in South America.
The same feeling I'd had in Hamburg was back. I couldn't respond physically, and I wasn't enjoying myself on the court.
I love it when people say to me: 'You were a warrior, but you were also a very good tennis player. Just because you're a warrior doesn't mean you're going to be the best at your sport.
You have to play at a very good level, have a good forehand, a good serve and move well. I've been able to do everything I've done because I was good at it.
Nobody did me any favours, I deserved it. When I was young, I didn't expect to achieve everything I've done. But during my career, I belonged," concludes Schwartzman.
