Estoril, Portugal–
Diego Schwartzman has been having a horrible year, and that has continued here in Estoril. The Argentine, who hasn’t managed back to back match wins since the US Open last year, has lost in the first round against Marco Cecchinato, with this clay record in 2023 now a shocking 0-5.
In his post match interview, Schwartzman claimed that given his current struggles it’s been slightly easier to get wins on hard since the speed of the court plays in his favour while on clay if his game isn’t working the opponent is just too comfortable against him. He added that despite his very long struggle and the fact that with each passing week his ranking keeps going down (currently #36), he still believes he can find his way back. Despite another early loss here in Estoril, Schwartzman is already looking ahead to the big tournaments ahead, mentioning Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome as tournaments where he’s aiming to do well. He’ll start preparing for Monte Carlo immediately.
Due to his stature, Schwartzman is the kind of player who needs his game to be firing on all cylinders to be successful. He can’t really win many free points on serve, so he needs to battle for every single point and play a lot of long rallies. When he’s confident, that’s enough to make him a Top 10/20 player on circuit, but losing a step and a bit of confidence is enough for his result to drastically worsen.
It remains to be seen whether the Argentine will manage to somehow turn this situation around; it’s safe to say he will likely never get back to the Top 10 again, but he should be able to start winning some matches consistently and at least remain an ATP level player. As Diego Schwartzman himself said, this clay season might prove to be crucial for the future of his career.
Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
