Argentine reflects on his career in first-person essay

February 10, 2025

Diego Schwartzman climbed as high as No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

ATP Tour

Diego Schwartzman climbed as high as No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

By Diego Schwartzman

Diego Schwartzman is retiring from professional tennis after competing this week at the Argentina Open in his hometown of Buenos Aires.

The Argentine has crafted a distinguished career, in which he became one of only 12 players from his country to crack the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings, competed in the Nitto ATP Finals and went toe to toe with some of the best players in tennis history.

Before saying his farewell on the court, Schwartzman wrote his goodbye to the fans, detailing in a first-person essay why he decided to retire, the lessons he has learned and plenty more.

It All Adds Up

Last month, I was in Uruguay enjoying a holiday with my family when I ran into a French guy who was probably 22 or 23 years old. He said to me, ‘I remember that time you were playing Rafa at Roland Garros and the rain came!’

In the 2018 quarter-finals, I led Rafa by a set and a break when the weather made us come back the next day. Rafa won the match and the tournament. I lost seven times in the second week of Grand Slam tournaments to Rafa or Nole. I was playing so well. If I didn't have these guys in front of me, I think I could have gone even deeper in these tournaments.

But I am proud that I never went down against these legends without a fight, and it is nice that fans still remember that.

I have not competed in a tournament since last year’s US Open and I have been able to do things like snowboard with family and even play padel a little bit. Every so often I run into fans who tell me nice things, give me hugs and everything. That has been special.

This week I am retiring after the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. While it has been a little bit sad watching tennis lately knowing this moment was coming, it was in a good way. I have a lot of amazing memories to think about and achievements to celebrate. I had the opportunity to check off many dreams and do more than people thought was possible for me.

I have a small body, but it gave the biggest players in our history bad moments.

# # #

The beginning of the end of my career came in Hamburg in 2022.

I lost in the first round in a close match, but something was not right. My body did not answer the questions that day. I was feeling emotions during the match, but not good ones. My hands were shaking a little bit. I was struggling with irritation and cramping.

I thought that maybe I was a little bit tired and that I had to rest. Just two minutes after I walked off the court, I sat with my coach, Juan Ignacio Chela. He asked me different questions about my body and what I felt on court and about the match. It was a different feeling.

But sometimes that happens to tennis players. For a few weeks your tennis, the mind and everything else do not work. You go home, rest, recover and that helps. But this time, I felt different. I was never the same.

You May Also Like: Schwartzman: Why Height Doesn't Define Me

At the end of 2022, I thought things were improving. I had a good preseason and was feeling well entering the new year.

But by the clay-court season, I knew the end would come sooner than later. After going to Australia and competing in South America, I had only won one match. The same feeling I had in Hamburg was back. I was cramping, and my body was not cooperating. I could not respond. I was really struggling and was not enjoying the process.

To compete at the highest level you need to practise and do everything to a certain standard, so it was very difficult. I changed my trainer and my coaches, thinking maybe it was time to change something, listen to different voices and new ways of working. That was not the right decision.

It was me. It was nobody else.

What I had done for years helped me achieve a lot in our sport. At the 2017 US Open, I was a seeded player at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and made the quarter-finals. Looking back, I had a huge opportunity to make the semi-finals against Pablo Carreno Busta.

That was when I took my career to a new level. After that moment, I understood how my body was going to feel after five sets, what it was going to be like in the second week of a major.

The next year I broke into the Top 20 for the first time. In 2020, I made the semi-finals at Roland Garros, reached a career-high No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings and competed in the Nitto ATP Finals. The following March I won my fourth and final ATP Tour title at home in Buenos Aires. It was a magical moment for a boy from Argentina.

During that time I learned that to be successful takes a lot. There are so many important things: training, nutrition, mentality, having the right people around you and being confident in your abilities and preparation. I gave it my all.

Diego Schwartzman

Photo: Peter Staples/ATP Tour

My tennis was not just about forehands and backhands. Sometimes I walked on court trying to think about how I could crack my opponent. It is kind of funny that in the end, tennis cracked me, and that is why this is the end.

But that is okay. I am happy. If you would have told a young Diego I would accomplish what I have, my answer would have been simple: ‘No chance’.

Growing up, it was not easy for my family financially. I would travel with my mother and the hotel would never have a TV and at almost every tournament we shared a bed. Once we stayed somewhere because a room cost two pesos for the night.

We scrambled to earn money to help me travel. We even sold rubber bracelets left over from my family’s old business to pay for these trips. I would run around tournaments selling them. Other kids would too, and we would give them some of the profit.

So how did I make it as far as I did? I have no idea, really.

I know that I was a really good player, and I can see now when I practise, I'm still good. I had four or five years at the top level, but if I’m being honest, I really did not know I was going to get there.

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Something a lot of people spoke about was my height, 170 centimetres. I didn't like that during my career, because many times when I was playing good tournaments, everyone was asking me how I did it and how I was going to win the next match.

It was all about my weight, my height and everything about my small body. Nobody is at the top without height, it's true. Barely anybody in the Top 100 is my height. I can’t lie, it was tough.

I had to work so hard off the court so that my opponents did not feel I had less power or my movements were shorter or anything. For sure I know that height is a very important thing playing tennis. But more than 50 per cent the way you win matches comes from what you do away from the court.

I really like when people say to me, ‘You were a fighter, but you were also a very good tennis player’. Just being a fighter, you are not going to be at the top of the sport. You need to play good tennis. You need to have a good forehand, a good serve and good movement. Just being a fighter does not get you to the top.

I was there because I was good at this sport. Nobody gave me a gift. I earned this.

When I was young, I didn't expect to achieve what I did. But during my career, I belonged.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5679595&forum_id=2#48650393)

It was all about my weight, my height and everything about my small body. Nobody is at the top without height, it's true. Barely anybody in the Top 100 is my height. I can’t lie, it was tough.

I had to work so hard off the court so that my opponents did not feel I had less power or my movements were shorter or anything. For sure I know that height is a very important thing playing tennis.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5679595&forum_id=2#48650406)