French Open News: Diego Schwartzman Is Confident He ‘Can Beat’ Rafael Nadal

KEY POINTS

Diego Schwartzman knows he has what it takes to beat Rafael Nadal
Nadal has yet to drop a set in this year’s French Open
Schwartzman defeated Nadal in last month’s Italian Open

Rafael Nadal remains in top form in the 2020 French Open, but Diego Schwartzman says he has what it takes to defeat the 12-time Roland Garros champion.

"If I see the history, I'm not sure if I'm going to have a lot of confidence. But I know that I can beat him. That's the important thing," Schwartzman said, BBC reported.

Schwartzman is coming off a strong quarter-final match as he eliminated the reigning U.S. Open champion, Dominic Thiem. The two went head-to-head as the match stretched out to a five-set thriller. In the end, it was the Argentine who came out as the winner as the match extended to five hours.

This is Schwartzman’s Grand Slam semi-final debut, and he’s already faced with a big challenge. The 28-year-old is known to be resilient on the court, and he was able to tally his first victory over Nadal in their previous encounter in last month’s Italian Open. The Buenos Aires native is currently 20-9 this year, including 15-3 on clay, ATP Tour reported.

Despite the Spaniard being the favored winner, he shared that he doesn’t underestimate Schwartzman’s abilities.

"He's coming with big confidence," Nadal said.

The 19-time Grand Slam winner has yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament as he’s looking to tie Roger Federer’s record of 20 majors. While he’s dominated the clay-court major for years, he’s had some moments where the underdog emerged as the winner.

In 2009, Sweden’s Robin Soderling handed Nadal a rare French Open loss. The other loss Nadal suffered was back in 2015 when Novak Djokovic defeated him in the semi-finals.

While the left-handed star has only been beaten twice in his entire career in Roland Garros, he pointed out that there’s no room for complacency against Schwartzman.

"He's in the final in Rome, he's in the semi-finals here. He beat me there. It's a plus of confidence for him. I know that," Nadal continued.

On the other side of the semi-finals, the bracket features a matchup between Novak Djokovic and Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas.