Diego Schwartzman admits ‘struggle’ after continued poor form
Diego Schwartzman has admitted the ‘struggle’ of being a professional tennis player at the moment, after continuing his poor run of form, with the Argentine losing in the first round of his home event in Buenos Aires.
Schwartzman is a former top 10 player, but had to receive a wildcard for the tournament in the Argentinian capital after dropping to No.116 in the world.
The 31-year-old was drawn against Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan, and despite winning the first set was pegged back to lose his fourth consecutive match.
Colombia gets the away win ????????
Daniel Elahi Galan rallies to defeat local hero Schwartzman 2-6 6-1 6-4 in Buenos Aires!@ArgentinaOpen pic.twitter.com/KYb0lYLLEO
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 13, 2024
This run of losses includes a first round loss in Australian Open qualifying, with Schwartzman not gaining access to the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2014.
Schwartzman was asked after his latest defeat about what he thought the problem was, “I swear I don’t know. It’s a combination of everything.
“There are times when you have to bring an extra ball and the body does not really help: there are times when I have to play with more power to make the opponent uncomfortable, I’m not making it, it’s like in the moments of the match there are different issues that make me do it wrong.”
Not only has Schwartzman lost his last four matches, he has actually only won one of his last seven, with the four-time title winner dropping 84 ranking places in the past 12 months.
And the 2020 Roland Garros semi-finalist even admitted that he has no motivation to play on the hard courts of Los Cabos next week, where he has received a wildcard as a former champion.
“It’s a struggle, everyone can see that. We’ll see if in the coming months I can find a solution, and if not… we’ll see,” declared Schwartzman. “It’s hard to wake up tomorrow with the desire to train, change surfaces, travel again… if some victories don’t appear at least to enjoy a little more inside the court, I don’t know how much longer I can hold it. I have a hard time when things go wrong in competition.”
He continued, “To sustain myself mentally with these results like the ones I’ve been having, it’s complicated. I can’t imagine playing in Mexico on Monday. Obviously I will go and when you enter the court you forget everything and try to do it again, but things are not working out.
“The year for the Argentines practically starts with the tour close to home. To do badly for the second consecutive year, to lose again in the first round against very good opponents, but against whom I had a chance to beat at a good level, is very hard. To imagine the next few months like this if results don’t come… it’s going to be tough.”
How about these Wild Cards? ???????????? pic.twitter.com/GjU9FvPe55
— Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo (@CaboTennisOpen) January 23, 2024
Diego Schwartzman will look for an upturn in form next week in Los Cabos, where he will be joined alongside the likes of Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Inside the baseline…
It has been a very challenging past year or so for Diego Schwartzman, who always appears a very popular player on the ATP Tour. It must be even more frustrating when he can’t seem to find the root of the problem, as it would be much easier to understand if it was down to injury concerns. The issue that Schwartzman has at the moment is that due to his lower ranking he is always vulnerable to a tricky draw, which could very well be the case in Los Cabos next week, so it may perhaps be sensible for him to drop down to the Challenger scene to try and gain some confidence.
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