Retiring Diego Schwartzman perfectly remembers the moment when he felt a change in his body as the Argentine reveals nothing has been the same since 2022 Hamburg.
At the start of the 2022 season, the five-time ATP champion was hovering around the top-15 in the world and still regarded as one of the better players on the Tour.
And while he had some good and solid results in the first part of that season, his form absolutely collapsed in the second part of the year and he even finished 2022 on a seven-match losing streak.
But before his losing streak started at the 2022 US Open, Schwartzman picked up a 5-7 4-6 loss to Emil Ruusuvuori in the Hamburg first round in mid-July of that year.
"The beginning of the end of my career came in Hamburg in 2022," the 32-year-old wrote in a column for the ATP website.
"I lost in the first round in a close match, but something was not right. My body did not answer the questions that day. I was feeling emotions during the match, but not good ones. My hands were shaking a little bit. I was struggling with irritation and cramping.
"I thought that maybe I was a little bit tired and that I had to rest."
Schwartzman: I was never the same after
After years of posting winning seasons and doing solid things on the ATP Tour, the Argentine went 16-29 in 2023 and even exited the top-100.
Since the start of 2024 didn't bring anything better to the former world No. 8, he announced last May that he would retire from pro tennis at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires in 2025 February.
Last year, Schwartzman didn't collect a single ATP main draw win and he also finished the 2024 season ranked at No. 370 in the world.
"But sometimes that happens to tennis players. For a few weeks your tennis, the mind and everything else do not work," the 2020 French Open semifinalist added.
"You go home, rest, recover and that helps. But this time, I felt different. I was never the same."
After losing to Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the Rosario Challenger first round last week, Schwartzman is now set for the last tournament of his career in Buenos Aires, where he plays against Nicolas Jarry in the first round.
