Diego Schwartzman admits he has reached a crossroads in his career after suffering another early exit at his home tournament in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
The former world No.8 clinched the opening set before falling 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, to Colombia’s Daniel Galán who is currently ranked 36 places higher than him in the rankings at 80th. Schwartzman has now failed to win back-to-back matches at six consecutive tournaments with two of those taking place in his native Argentina. Last month he lost in the first round of qualifying at the Australian Open which resulted in his missing the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2014.
Schwartman’s lull in form is taking a toll on the Argentine who openly admits he is struggling on the Tour.
“I swear I don’t know,” Schwartzman replied when asked how he was going to find a solution to his lacklustre form.
“It’s a combination of everything. There are times when you have to bring an extra ball and the body does not really help: there are times when I have to play with more power to make the opponent uncomfortable, I’m not making it, it’s like in the moments of the match there are different issues that make me do it wrong.”
The 31-year-old has implied that the coming weeks and months on the Tour will play a key role in deciding his future in the sport. A former top 10 payer, Schwartzman has won four titles on the ATP Tour and reached the semi-finals of the 2020 French Open.
“It’s a struggle, everyone can see that. We’ll see if in the coming months I can find a solution, and if not… we’ll see”. He said.
Schwartzman will move from the clay courts of Buenos Aires to the hard courts of Los Cabos in Mexico after receiving a wild card into the main draw. He has fond memories of the tournament after capturing the title in 2019. However, his struggles show no signs of going away soon.
“It’s hard to wake up tomorrow with the desire to train, change surfaces, travel again… if some victories don’t appear at least to enjoy a little more inside the court, I don’t know how much longer I can hold it. I have a hard time when things go wrong in competition.” He explained.
“To sustain myself mentally with these results like the ones I’ve been having, it’s complicated. I can’t imagine playing in Mexico on Monday. Obviously I will go and when you enter the court you forget everything and try to do it again, but things are not working out,
“The year for the Argentines practically starts with the tour close to home. To do badly for the second consecutive year, to lose again in the first round against very good opponents, but against whom I had a chance to beat at a good level, is very hard.
“To imagine the next few months like this if results don’t come… it’s going to be tough.”
Schwartzman is currently ranked 116th in the world. This time 12 months ago he was ranked 32nd.