Diego Schwartzman

Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdjeɣo seβasˈtjan ˈʃwaɾdzman],[3][4] Hebrew: דייגו סבסטיאן שוורצמן‎; Yiddish: דיעגאָ סעבאַסטיאַן שוואַרצמאַן‎‎); German: [ˈʃvaʁtsman]; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine professional tennis player competing on the ATP Tour. He has won three ATP singles titles, and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in October 2020.[5] Although known as a clay court specialist, he actually prefers grass courts. He is noted for his high-quality return game.[6][7][8][9]

Diego Schwartzman
Schwartzman at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships
Country (sports) Argentina
ResidenceBuenos Aires, Argentina
Born (1992-08-16) 16 August 1992
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Turned pro2010
PlaysRight-handed
(two-handed backhand)
CoachJuan Ignacio Chela
Prize moneyUS$ 8,965,129
Singles
Career record168–143 (54.0% in ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 8 (12 October 2020)
Current rankingNo. 9 (19 October 2020)[2]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open4R (2018, 2020)
French OpenSF (2020)
Wimbledon3R (2019)
US OpenQF (2017, 2019)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (2020)
Doubles
Career record57–88 (39.3% in ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 39 (6 January 2020)
Current rankingNo. 51 (9 November 2020)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open2R (2015)
French OpenSF (2019)
Wimbledon2R (2016)
US Open2R (2015, 2016)
Team competitions
Davis CupSF (2015)
Last updated on: 20 November 2020.

When he reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 US Open, the 170-centimetre (5 ft 7 in) Schwartzman was the shortest Grand Slam quarterfinalist since Jaime Yzaga (170 centimetres or 5 feet 7 inches at the 1994 US Open).[10][11] Schwartzman said: "It’s not just for the big guys here."[12]

Schwartzman reached his first Masters final at the 2020 Italian Open, defeating defending champion world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets and Denis Shapovalov along the way. He lost to Novak Djokovic in the final. A month later, at the 2020 French Open, he defeated World No. 3 Dominic Thiem to reach his maiden Grand Slam semifinal, where became the shortest man to reach a Grand Slam singles semi-final since the 5-foot-6-inch (168 cm) Harold Solomon at the 1980 French Open.

Personal life

Schwartzman is Jewish,[13][14][15] and is the son of Ricardo and Silvana Schwartzman.[16] He was born and resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[16] During the Holocaust his Polish maternal great-grandfather was put on a train to a Nazi concentration camp.[17] The coupling that connected two of the train's cars broke, allowing his great-grandfather and others inside one car to escape.[17] His great-grandfather brought his family by boat from Germany to Argentina.[17][18] When they arrived, they spoke Yiddish, but no Spanish.[17] His father's family emigrated from Russia to Argentina by boat.[17]

Schwartzman has two brothers (one a computer programmer, the other a travel agent), and a sister (who is a lawyer).[19][20] He and his siblings all attended Hebrew school and celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs.[21] His family celebrates Jewish holidays and speaks a bit of Hebrew.

At youth tournaments, Schwartzman often faced anti-semitic catcalls. On the ATP Tour, he has endured less anti-semitism, but in the 2017 US Open a spectator shouted "Jewish people are not allowed here" in the direction of Schwartzman.[22]

Schwartzman's nickname is El Peque (an abbreviation of the word "pequeño", meaning "Shorty" in Spanish).[23][6] As a youth, he played tennis at Club Náutico Hacoaj, a Jewish sport club in Buenos Aires that was established by and for Jews who were not allowed to join other sports clubs in the city in the early 20th century.[24][25]

Career

2010–13

In 2010, at the age of 17, he won the Bolivia F3 Futures (CL), and in 2011 he won the Chile F14 Futures (CL).[26] In 2012, Schwartzman won titles at the Peru F2 Futures (CL), Argentina F11 Futures (CL), Argentina F14 Futures (CL), Argentina F20 Futures (CL), Argentina F21 Futures (CL), Argentina F22 Futures (CL), and Buenos Aires Challenger (CL).[27] At the 2013 Australian Open, he lost in the final round of qualifying.[28]

2014: Four Challenger titles & ATP Challenger Tour Finals champion

Schwartzman made his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam event at the 2014 French Open; he came through qualifying before making it to the second round, where he lost to Roger Federer.[29] He lost in the first round of the 2014 US Open to Novak Djokovic.[28]

In the ATP Challenger Tour, he won four titles--at Aix-en-Provence, Prague, Campinas, and San Juan. In the 2014 ATP Challenger Tour Finals, he won over João Souza, Simone Bolelli, and Guilherme Clezar to claim the title. At the end of 2014, Schwartzman was ranked No. 61 in the world.[26]

2015: Davis Cup semifinals
Diego Schwartzman (2015)

Schwartzman's best result of the season came at the 2015 Istanbul Open, where he reached the semifinals, beating former top-ten player Jürgen Melzer along the way. In the semis he faced tennis legend Roger Federer. Schwartzman won the first set decisively, before ultimately falling 7–5 in the final set.[28] He was also part of the Argentine Davis Cup Team, which reached the semifinals in 2015.[30]

2016: First ATP title
Diego Schwartzman (2016)

Schwartzman won his first-ever singles title at the 2016 Istanbul Open—an outdoor 250 clay court event. He impressively defeated established top player Grigor Dimitrov in the final, coming back to win 6–0 in the final set after losing the first set in a tie-break. Later, Dimitrov apologized for his behavior during the match, after he smashed three rackets, which ultimately led to a warning, a point penalty, and then another point penalty. The second and final point penalty came with Dimitrov down 5–0 and gave the game, set, and match to Schwartzman.[31]

In October, Schwartzman reached his second final at the 250 level, in Antwerp. He lost to Richard Gasquet 6–7, 1–6 in the final.[28] In 2016, he led all ATP players in percentage of break points converted, at 46.6%.[32]

2017: US Open quarterfinals
Diego Schwartzman (2017)

Schwartzman reached the third round at the 2017 French Open, where he faced Novak Djokovic. He had a 2–1 set lead, but eventually Djokovic won in five sets.[33]

In the 2017 Canadian Open the 25-year-old saved four match points to pull off a remarkable 4–6, 7–6(7), 7–5 upset of No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem (No. 7 in the world), his first-ever win over a top-10 player.[34] As of mid-August 2017, Schwartzman was leading the ATP tour in winning percentage in return games at 36 per cent (192/532), with Nadal in second place and Djokovic in fourth place.[8]

On 1 September, Schwartzman defeated world No. 7, and 5th seed, Marin Cilic in the third round at the 2017 US Open to equal the biggest win of his career. On 3 September, he beat world No. 20, and 16th seed, Lucas Pouille in the fourth round to reach his first career major quarterfinal.

Schwartzman's 2017 season proved to be the best of his career to that point. He finished the year ranked world No. 25, in addition to making his first major quarterfinal; he also made two quarterfinals at the Masters 1000 level. He won 39 singles matches and earned $1,536,000 over the course of the season, easily besting his previous records of 17 match wins and $441,000 in the 2016 season.[35] In 2017 he led all ATP players in percentage of second serve return points won (56.1%) and percentage of return games won (34.8%), while coming in third behind Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal in percentage of first serve return points won (34.3%).[32] Finally, he scored his first win over a top-10 player, and then just two weeks later he racked up a second top-10 win.

2018: Second ATP title, top-15 ranking & second Grand Slam quarterfinal

In his first 17 Grand Slam tournaments, Schwartzman had only reached the 3rd round one time. However, at the 2018 Australian Open, he advanced to the 4th round, where he played world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. For the first time in his career, Schwartzman made the second week at a major for the second consecutive time, following his quarterfinal showing at the 2017 US Open. Despite going into the match with an 0-3 head-to-head record, 0–7 in sets, Schwartzman took the second-set tiebreak 7-4 before eventually going down in 4 sets. By virtue of his performance, he reached a new career-high singles ranking of No. 24 on 29 January 2018.[36]

He then went on to capture the title at the 2018 Rio Open, a clay ATP 500 level tournament, defeating Fernando Verdasco 6–2, 6–3. The Rio Open marked the biggest title of Schwartzman's career thus far. He reached a new career-high singles ranking of No. 15 on 2 April 2018, and was the first Jewish male player to break into the singles top 20 since Nicolás Massú was ninth in 2004.[28][37][24] At the 2018 French Open, Schwartzman made it into his second Grand Slam quarterfinal. He didn't drop a set on his run to the 4th round, where he faced 6th seed, world No. 7 Kevin Anderson and won in just under four hours, after coming back from two sets to love down for the first time in his career. Questioned by reporters as to how he defeated the 6’ 8″ Anderson, he replied: "Did you read David and Goliath?"[38] In the quarterfinals he took the first set from Rafael Nadal, but it started raining and the match was postponed to the next day where Nadal won the next three sets.[39] His quarterfinal showing marked his 3rd consecutive Grand Slam where he made it to the second week of competition.

Schwartzman participated in only two grass court events in 2018; they included the Eastbourne International and Wimbledon. Although Schwartzman was the No. 1 seed at Eastbourne, he fell in the first round to Mirza Bašić in three sets. At Wimbledon, Schwartzman scored his first career grass win by defeating Mirza Bašić in straight sets, before falling in the 2nd round to Jiří Veselý.

Schwartzman reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 German Open, but fell to eventual finalist Leonardo Mayer in three sets. In 2018 he was second to Nadal among all ATP players in percentage of second serve return points won (55.8%) and percentage of return games won (30.7%).[32]

2019: Third ATP title, first Masters doubles final & French Open doubles semifinal
Schwartzman playing in the French Open (2019)

At the 2019 Australian Open Schwartzman defeated Rudolf Molleker in four sets and American Denis Kudla in a five-set thriller. He was knocked out in the third round by former Wimbledon finalist, Tomáš Berdych.[40]

Schwartzman then competed in the 2019 Cordoba Open, making the quarterfinals. Schwartzman went on to make the finals at the 2019 Argentina Open, a clay ATP 250 level tournament.[40] Along his way to the finals Schwartzman defeated world #8 Dominic Thiem, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6.[40] Schwartzman lost in straight sets to Italian Marco Cecchinato in the finals.[41] Schwartzman was unable to defend his title at the 2019 Rio Open, retiring in the second set with a right leg injury in the first round. Schwartzman defeated world No. 6 Kei Nishikori 6–4, 6–2 in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Italian Open, before being defeated by Djokovic in three sets.[40]

Schwartzman then captured the title at the 2019 Los Cabos Open, defeating Taylor Fritz in the final, 7–6(8–6), 6–3. It marked his first-ever title at a hard court tournament, and third ATP title.[40][42]

At the 2019 US Open, in the fourth round Schwartzman upset world No. 6 Alexander Zverev in four sets, for his sixth career victory against a top-10 opponent.[43]

In Vienna at the Erste Bank Open in October, Schwartzman beat world No. 9 Karen Khachanov of Russia in straight sets and world No. 14 Gael Monfils He was defeated by Dominic Thiem in the final.[44]

In 2019, as he had done in 2017, Schwartzman led all ATP players in percentage of second serve return points won (56.05%).[45] For the years 2015-19, of all match-winning tennis players he led in winning percentage against second serves (60%), and against first serves (37.9%).[46] Career-wise, he was fourth among active players in return games won (31.1%), behind only Nadal (33.5%), Djokovic (32%), and Andy Murray (31.7%).[45]

2020: First Masters final, French Open semifinal, Top 10 debut, and ATP Finals

At the 2020 Australian Open, Schwartzman reached the 4th round without dropping a set, but was defeated by the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic.[47] He was seeded 9th in the Men's singles draw at the 2020 US Open, but lost in a first round five-setter to the unseeded British player Cameron Norrie.[48]

At the 2020 Italian Open, Schwartzman defeated nine-time champion and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals, his first victory against Nadal.[49] Schwartzman said: "It was my best match ever."[50] He went on to defeat Denis Shapovalov to reach the final against Novak Djokovic, his first ATP Masters 1000 final, becoming the shortest player to reach a Masters final.[51] There, he lost in two tight sets despite being a double break up in the first set.[52][53][54]

At the 2020 French Open, Schwartzman defeated world No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals in a five-set match that took five hours and eight minutes to complete.[55] It was his ninth career win over a top-10 player.[56] In a rematch of the Italian Open quarterfinals, he was defeated by Nadal in straight sets in Schwartzman's first major semifinals, where he became the shortest man to reach a Grand Slam singles semi-final since 168-centimetre (5 ft 6 in) Harold Solomon at the 1980 French Open.[57][58]

The following week Schwartzman was ranked No. 8 in the world, his first time ranked in the world's top 10 men's singles players.[59][52] He was the first Argentine to break into the Top 10 since Juan Monaco in 2012.[52] He was the shortest player in the Top 10 since Harold Solomon in 1981.[52]

Schwartzman's first tournament as a top 10 player as the 2020 Bett1Hulks Championship. He defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals and Félix Auger-Aliassime in the semifinals, but was defeated in the final by Alexander Zverev.[60] At the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters, Schwartzman beat Richard Gasquet and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals .

Schwartzman qualified for the 2020 ATP Finals as one of the top 8 players in the world. At the ATP Finals, he was eliminated in the round robin stage with a straight set loss to Novak Djokovic and a three set loss to Alexander Zverev.

Playing style

Schwartzman is a baseline player, with solid groundstrokes on both wings and the ability to both counterpunch and go on the offensive. He is known for the clean hitting off both his forehand and backhand, and is capable of taking the ball on the rise and hitting them with depth and pace. Analysts consider that he plays well on the defensive due to his speed and ability to hit winners from defensive positions far out of the court. His speed also allows him to retrieve drop shots and hit passing shots with ease.

Schwartzman has a consistent, though not outstanding, serve and arguably plays better on the return than on serve. In 2017, he led the ATP statistically on return games won and second serve points won. He also possesses solid volleys and prefers the drop volley, though they are not a major weapon in his game.

Schwartzman's speed and powerful baseline game have resulted in most of his success coming on clay rather than hard courts or grass. However, in the past few years he has attempted to add more variety in his game, resulting in breakthroughs particularly on grass, scoring his first ever win on grass only in 2018.

Career statistics
Main article: Diego Schwartzman career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current through the 2020 ATP Finals.

Tournament201320142015201620172018201920202021 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q3 Q1 1R 1R 2R 4R 3R 4R 0 / 6 9–6 60%
French Open Q2 2R 2R 1R 3R QF 2R SF 0 / 7 14–7 66%
Wimbledon A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R NH 0 / 5 3–5 38%
US Open Q3 1R 2R 1R QF 3R QF 1R 0 / 7 11–7 61%
Win–Loss 0–0 1–2 2–4 0–4 7–4 10–4 9–4 8–3 0–0 0 / 25 37–25 59%

Year–End Championships performance timeline
Tournament201320142015201620172018201920202021 SR W–L Win%
ATP Finals Did Not Qualify RR 0 / 1 0–3 0%

See also

References
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  4. "Diego Schwartzman, tenis y diversión". YouTube (in Spanish). 30 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  5. "Diego Schwartzman, la hinchada, sus proyecciones y su preparación" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
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  53. Emily Burack (21 September 2020). "Jewish tennis whiz beats Nadal to advance to Italian Open finals; Diego Schwartzman, who also downed Israel-born Denis Shapovalov, faces Novak Djokovic in the finals Monday, with chance to break into top 10 internationally". Times of Israel.
  54. "Novak Djokovic claims fifth Italian Open title to make Masters history". ESPN. 21 September 2020.
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  56. "Diego Schwartzman Goes From 'Today's Not My Day' To Epic Victory | ATP Tour". 6 October 2020.
  57. "Rafael Nadal to face Novak Djokovic in French Open final after contrasting semifinal wins". 9 October 2020.
  58. D'Cunha, Zenia. "French Open: Diego Schwartzman's courage and composure stand tall as he reaches first Slam semifinal". Scroll.in.
  59. Steve Fink (6 October 2020). "In 5:08, Diego Schwartzman topples Thiem to reach Roland Garros semis". Tennis.
  60. "Alexander Zverev defeats Diego Schwartzman in straight sets for back-to-back Cologne titles". ESPN. 25 October 2020.
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