Diego Schwartzman
was very hurt by
the three-set defeat against Colombian
Daniel Galán
, which left him out of the
Argentina Open
in his debut for the second consecutive year.
It hurt him not only because he said goodbye too quickly to a tournament in which he had experienced great joys in the past and in which he feels at home.
But it also hurt him because that 2-6, 6-1 and 6-4 against a rival from qualifying only deepened the crisis that
Peque
, today 116th in the ranking, has been experiencing for a couple of seasons.
And after that hard blow, he opened his heart and recognized that, if things don't change, he may be headed to the end of his career.
"If some victories do not appear, at least to enjoy a little more on the court, I do not know how long I will be able to stretch it. I am very clear about it. We will see in the coming months how I am. It is very difficult for me when in the competition, things go wrong. For me and my team, because day to day is a very big effort. There is a tour of a month and a half and another of two months coming up. And sustaining myself mentally with results like the ones I have been having is complicated "
He commented with a more serious face than usual.
And he continued:
"The truth is, there is little fuel left in the tank. When you start the year, you are always excited, especially because we, the Argentines, practically start the tour close to home. Doing poorly for the second year in a row, losing again in the first round and with rivals who are very good, but who at one level I could have a chance of beating, and playing poorly for many moments... It's difficult for me. I think it's already costing me a little to sustain it with results "so adverse for a year or so. So, being able to imagine the next few months in this way, if good results don't start to appear, it's going to cost me. The truth is it's going to cost me
. "
Schwartzman, who entered the picture thanks to a
wild card
from the organization, extended his weak start to the year.
He did not pass the
Brisbane
and
Australian
Open
qualifications
.
He fell last week in the debut in
Córdoba
.
And now he took a very hard blow in a tournament in which he claimed champion once (2021) and was a finalist two others (2019 and 2022) and said goodbye to Buenos Aires without wins for the second consecutive year.
In 2023, as the fourth seed, he started in the round of 16 and was unable to beat the Spanish
Bernabé Zapata Miralles
.
Colombia gets the away win 🇨🇴
Daniel Elahi Galan rallies to defeat local hero Schwartzman 2-6 6-1 6-4 in Buenos Aires!@ArgentinaOpen pic.twitter.com/KYb0lYLLEO
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 13, 2024
"I swear to you that I don't know what the reason for this bad moment is. If not, maybe I wouldn't do it like this. It's a combination of everything, from the moment in which the physicist has to bring some more ball and doesn't bring it; or in which I have to play with a little more power to make the opponent uncomfortable, but I can't... At different moments of the game different issues appear that make me do poorly," he reflected.
"At the end of last year I had won matches and even against players who are in the top ten (
NdR: Taylor Fritz, number eight in the world, in the third round of the Shanghai Masters 1000, for example
). And this year it gave me a little bit of hope to be able to play well again, but it's hard," he added.
This Tuesday's defeat against Galán, however, left him with something positive:
the affection of the people
.
"I appreciate how people treated me. Sometimes they were a little more upset when I arrived in a better ranking. Today I feel greater support to try to help me get out of the bad sporting moment and I will always be grateful for that. Also for that reason, one always tries a little more. It was evident against Galán: I played a few extra games simply because I was at home, because without that help it is difficult to sustain," he said.
And he closed: "That's why I also have a mixture of sadness and anger. When you lose at home it's very sad. Especially in a place where I did so well so many times, in a place where four times in a row - five times counting Córdoba- I made it to the weekend. Losing two years in a row in the first round with your people is a bit complicated, so we'll see how far I can push it this way."