Diego Schwartzman’s crisis: the causes of a free fall and the signs that don’t allow him to give up

diego schwartzmann He’s not having a good time in his sporting career. He small he has won just five games of 16 played in 2023. He has failed to snap a two-game winning streak so far this season. And on clay, a surface on which he has been able to reap enormous results in the past, he accumulates a record of two wins and seven defeats. These poor results were reflected in the rankings. AND after last week’s elimination in the second round of the ATP 500 in Barcelona, suffered a sharp decline in the rankings. This Monday he appeared 72nd, outside the top 70 for the first time in more than six yearsin what was the biggest drop of the week in the top hundred.

The difficult present, however, failed to appease his spirit and his desire to work to recover his best level. Passing through the Catalan contest and the Monte Carlo Masters 1000a week earlier, they’d left the porteño feeling that things were starting to look up in the last few months. “Slowly the pieces settle down and tennis improves. Keep hitting it with humility and enthusiasm!!! Here we are in Madrid”she wrote on her Instagram account, following the 6-2, 6-4 defeat Jannik sinner in the Count of Godó.

The early farewell to Barcelona – where he had to defend the 180 points he conquered last year when he reached the semifinals – meant that Schwartzman lost 24 positions in the standings and finished in his worst finish since 2016.

From 17 to 23 October of that year, the small it was at 77°. That week he reached the final in the 250m antwerpwith victories against Nicolas Mahut (40th), Taylor Fritz (70th), Pablo Cuevas (22nd) and David Goffin (12th), all classified better than him, and lost in the decisive match against the French Richard Gasquet, by then, 19th. The next day it was 54°.

From there began a climb, which – beyond some ups and downs (he never got out of the top 60 again) – led him to be number eight in the world in October 2020, the year in which he had the pleasure to beat Rafael Nadal in Rome (in the quarterfinals, before losing in the final against Novak Djokovic) and play the semi-finals Roland Garros.

The porteño managed to stay among the best in the 10 best until May 2021 and finished that year in 13th place in the standings. In 2022, he started with good performances in the South American dust tour (halfs in Córdoba and finals in Buenos Aires and Río); and subsequently reached the semifinals also in Barcelona and the round of 16 in the French Grand Slam, where he said goodbye to Djokovic. But in the second semester he went down a hole. And he finished the season in 25th place, with seven consecutive defeats: in the third round of the US Open, the group stage of the Davis Cup finals, the Laver Cup and his debuts in Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Vienna and at the Masters 1000 in Paris .

This year the story has not changed. Ahead of her debut in Buenos Aires in February, she had reflected in a conversation with clarion: “I’m training very well, but maybe the difference is that I don’t have the confidence I had in the key moments of the matches, when I was 4-4 or at the tie break. In those moments when I stole points and won in awkward situations. That’s it where a lot of confidence in my game came from. And that’s where I have to come back strong.”

And he added: “When I was a kid, neither I nor anyone thought I’d achieve everything I’ve achieved. So what can I fault about my career? Being 32nd in the world? It’s spectacular. I lost a tennis match, I’m not playing well … I hope I can do it again soon, but I think with all I’ve achieved there is no room for criticism. Even if whoever wants to do it, do it.”

​Already after another early defeat in the ATP 250 in Estoril against the Italian Marco Cecchinato, in the first days of April, Peque once again launched a harsh self-criticism: “I’m struggling and I still believe I can get back to my best level, but it’s been too many months of losing games and playing badly. Good results are needed as soon as possible to be part of the game in major tournaments”released.

By then he had already reached his coaching staff. Juan Ignacio Chela remained top of the pack, but added the experienced Mariano Monachesi as assistant coach, replacing Alejandro Fabbri, with whom he had worked with for the past two years.

Schwartzman had to wait for things to improve a bit. He was able to win his first match of the year on clay in his Monte Carlo debutin view of goffin. However, severe pain in his left shoulder forced him to retire in the next round, against Sinner. And last week, in Barcelonahe defeated the Chinese in the opener Yib Wu (56th), before saying goodbye to the promising Italian again.

The passage in that Spanish city left him with good sensations and the certainty of wanting to keep looking for a way to return to his more competitive version. But this drop in ranking could complicate things. Is that being outside the top 70 -or below, if he fails to reverse this weak momentum and keeps falling- could force him to play the qualities of some ATP 500 (mostly, ties are 32 players) and, maybe , even some Masters 1000 (Rome will have 96 tennis players, but those of Toronto and Cincinnati, which are still on the calendar, only 56).

Inside Masters of Madrid 1000 -who will start on Wednesday and where an opponent from qualifying awaits in the first round- will defend just 45 points, given that he lost in the second round last year. He’ll start building his comeback on the brick dust of the magic box?

Fran Cerúndolo, the best Argentine; and Nole, at the top

Schwartzman had started the year as the best Argentinian in the standings. But today he already has four ahead of him. This Monday, Francis Cerundolo appeared again as the best-placed national tennis player: After reaching the quarter-finals in Barcelona, ​​​​​​he climbed up from 32nd to 30th place.

The second is Sebastian Baez, who after crashing on his debut in Monaco, loses a position and is 31st. They appear further back Thomas Etcheverry, who remained on the 59th step, and Pedro Cachín, who rose from 69th to 67th. The last blue and white racket in the top 100 is Frederick Corialocated at 78th place.

One of the big climbs of the week among the Argentines was that of Juan Manuel Cerundolowhich was a finalist in the Oeiras Challenger (Portugal) and climbed 19 places to 104th place.

In the top ten, the only change was the rise of Daniel Medvedev in third place. The Russian, who took a break last week and will return to Madrid, benefited from the decline Casper Ruud in the round of 16 in Barcelona and moved up one position to return to the podium. The Norwegian dropped to fourth place.

Novak Djokovic is still number one. While Carlos Alcaraz, his escort, reduced the difference by being crowned in Barcelona: they were 470 last Monday; now they are 365. In any case, the Serbian, who just lost in the quarterfinals in Banja Luka and accumulates 7,135 units, he secured the top spot until after Madridwhich will be played between Wednesday and 7 May.

It’s that although Nole dropped out of that race with right elbow problems, he’ll only drop 360 for last year’s semifinals and stay at 6,775. And Alcaraz must defend the title in magic box (Where Nadal won’t play either), with which, in the best case scenario, he would be left with the same crop he has today, 6,770. Thus, the Murcian will have to wait for the appointment in Rome (from 10 to 21 May) to try to get back to the top.