‘South American’ Schwartzman reveals why he’s retiring early: “We are so far from the Tour”

Tennis has long been a sport revered worldwide but unfortunately it hasn’t really enjoyed global representation, especially on the ATP circuit.

This is vividly reflected in the fact that Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro stands as the lone non-European Grand Slam champion from the last 81 Major tournaments held. Del Potro’s compatriot Diego Schwartzman toiled hard on the court to repeat the same but failed.

There maybe a gazillion reasons behind players from different parts of the world not faring equally well on the grandest of stages in tennis but the soon-retiring Schwartzman had his say on the matter recently.

I think being a South American player, it is very difficult to keep going at the top level, I tried to do for many years. We are so far from the Tour.”

Diego Schwartzman

“It happens to you when you guys had those few tournaments on clay, always the US guys try not to play Monte Carlo, Rome,” the Argentine said in an episode of Nothing Major podcast. “For us it’s the entire year like this. After you become 31, 32 it’s difficult.”

The Argentine began competing professionally in the year 2010 and collected four ATP titles, breaching the Top 10 in October 2020. 14 years on, however, Schwartzman, only 32 years old, is just months away from calling it a day, having reserved the Argentina Open as his farewell tournament in February 2025.

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Schwartzman remained a Top 20 player for the majority of the 2022 season but his graph witnessed a steep decline, with the following year seeing him drop out of the Top 100. He is now placed 369th in the ATP singles rankings.

“I did many good things,” El Peque added. “But a few years ago, in 2022, when I started to feel like I was not playing my best and mentally, my legs and my mind were struggling, I thought I want to stay a few more days with family and my people for once. After that it was very difficult to continue the tour.”

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