13/02/2024 13:44hs.
August 23, 13 was a key day in the history of tennis: an official list with the men’s singles ranking came out for the first time. It’s been 50 years, half a century. And one of the great aspirations of the tennis players, since then, was to be placed – at least – within the top 10 for seven days. “Being top10” is a phrase that is repeated over and over again by those who dream of reaching the sky among the elite in the world of rackets. However, achieving that lot of privilege is an achievement that not everyone can achieve. In fact, only 12 Argentines achieved that mark and one of them was Diego Schwartzman, who spent 32 weeks and reached eighth place in October 2020. Today, away from the big spotlight and the peak of the level shown in his peak, he is positioned 116th, due to the lack of wins in the last season. However, he appears calm and hopeful of reversing this bad moment. Before his debut in the Argentina Open vs. Colombian Daniel Galan (80th), sat with Ole to chat in an extensive interview.
El Peque faced Rafa Nadal in a Roland Garros semifinal. (AFP)
-How are you spending this tennis moment on or off the court?
-In different ways: I think that off the field I am fine and on it… I am doing as best I can, after many years of great consistency, many joys and many victories. Everything was flowing, so to speak. Now it costs a little more, because I got used to five or six years of very high and complex regularity to carry out. In the end you start to get used to it and when things go differently and you continue doing practically the same thing off the court, having the same habits and routines, it is difficult to see it in the best way. Today I’m at it, trying to be patient enough to understand that my level on the court is not what I want. In short, we have to continue looking for solutions to see if that version appears again.
-You were 8 in the world, you had great results in Grand Slams (semifinal at Roland Garros, fourth in the US Open), you played in an ATP Finals after several years without Argentines, you traveled around the world, you represented the country in the Davis Cup and in the Tokyo Olympics, you were in the Laver Cup. Can you enjoy yourself in the middle of the maelstrom? Is there time to think ‘look where I am’?
-I don’t know if it’s enjoyable, but, at that moment, both winning and losing become part of a routine. It’s practically part of the job and for a while winning became that: it was part of what I did and sometimes you didn’t have the vision to enjoy it, because you have to keep doing things. Tennis is also one match after another, one day after another and it is difficult to stop the ball. Maybe now the opposite happens, when the results don’t happen you can look back a little and see the things you achieved. That’s when you may enjoy those things at the wrong time, but you enjoy them a little more.
This year El Peque won only one game out of the four they played. (Córdoba Open Press)
-You are one of the 12 Argentine tennis players who reached the top 10 in singles (Vilas, Del Potro, Clerc, Coria, Nalbandian, Gaudio, Mancini, Mónaco, Jaite, Puerta, Cañas). Do you think that in public opinion your achievements are not valued as much?
-I think so. The fact that perhaps today I am not winning the games that I won before or I am losing to rivals that people still believe that I am still 10th in the world can affect. However, I think that the majority of people do recognize me. In fact, I felt it a lot in Córdoba, even losing last week (NdeR: fell in the debut against Román Burruchaga in three sets), where perhaps I felt a little more pressure when I arrived as a favorite than when I arrived the other day. The support from the people was spectacular and I was there to try to give the best show possible at a level that was not the best. Today I have to have that patience to be able to give everything to the people who for many years followed me in my best moment, knowing that at this moment I am trying to look for good feelings. But the truth is that the achievements I had in my career, beyond what others think, are achievements that no one gave me. There are a few who may criticize me and they are also within their rights, but there are also others who will continue to enjoy it.
-Do you feel like you were missing something in your career?
-The truth is that I can’t blame myself for anything, because there is no one, not even the most fanatic of the things I did that I don’t know, or anyone in my family, who could have imagined the things I achieved. So I think more than just berating myself, I should rewind and say, ‘How the hell did I accomplish so many things?’ It’s much more than I imagined when I was a kid. For a long time I saw it as part of the routine and I flowed and won and I saw it as something normal and part of my career. Today, perhaps where the present is not so good, I am enjoying it much more, seeing all the things I was able to achieve, what I have around me. Going back to the affection I feel from people, whether it’s going to see a football match, going to the interior on vacation, or whatever, it’s spectacular.
Schwartzman, Boca fan to the core.
-You have two great passions: tennis and Boca. What do they mean to you at this moment in your life?
-For a long time they were combined passions, because if I played tennis and Boca was playing I needed to know how the match was going. Nowadays, fanaticism has gone down a bit in both directions and perhaps I’m trying to see it differently. In tennis I try to enjoy what I achieved while in everyday life I have to try to convince myself that I must have the patience that the moment deserves to move forward. Regarding Boca and football, I will always enjoy it because it is the most beautiful things there are.
-You seem confident and eager to reverse this present. Can we say that Schwartzman is still around for a while?
-I don’t know if for a while. In fact, I don’t think so for a while, but I don’t set a deadline or anything. As long as I continue to give myself the effort I make every day and to try to find solutions, I will continue doing it. The day that off the field I can’t maintain the effort that I make and that my work team makes, I think that day I will prefer to stop. Beyond after the sporting result, because sometimes I can’t handle everything within my reach.
2024-02-13 16:44:53
#Schwartzman #Olé #rewind #hell #achieve #Olé
