Winning Grand Slam Unlikely Until Federer And Nadal Retire, Schwartzman Says

Diego Schwartzman insists his chances to challenge for a Grand Slam title will only come after the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic decide to retire from tennis.

The Argentine believes any player will have a tough time winning a major title when either one among the big three is performing at a high level, which they are at the moment with Nadal and Federer ranked number one and two in the world respectively.

The Spaniard and the Swiss ace have dominated the ATP Tour in the last 16 months, winning a combined 18 titles which includes holding among them all the Grand Slam titles. Federer has won the Australian Open twice and is the defending Wimbledon champion, while Nadal holds the French and US Open titles.

Djokovic, on the other hand, has struggled with fitness issues over the last 12 months and is slowly trying to recapture his form that took him to 12 major titles. The Serbian was dominant between 2011 and 2015, but has struggled since his win at Roland Garros in 2016.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won 33 of the last 41 major titles with Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic sharing the other eight. And, with their current form one could agree with Schwartzman about the other players having less of a chance of winning a major title.

“Uff! Difficult...until (Roger) Federer, (Rafael) Nadal, (Novak) Djokovic and company do not retire, it seems to me that the room for another player to win a Grand Slam is complicated. Luckily I am younger, so I have some years left so that when they retire I have some chances,” Schwartzman said, as quoted by Tennis World USA.

The Argentine, currently ranked number 12 in the world, progressed to the third round at the ongoing French Open. He defeated Calvin Hemery and Adam Pavlasek in the first and second round respectively and will next face Borna Coric for a place in the fourth round.

Schwartzman is a diminutive player standing at 5 feet 7 inches and he admits that height does play a role in a game like tennis. He admitted that in the beginning of his career, he did struggle against taller players, but insists that he is now well prepared to face any shortcomings in that department.

“Yes, obviously yes,” the Argentine said when asked about height being a factor in tennis. “In the strength, in the shots, the ball speed, in this it helps much, but I could never think about it. Maybe, at the beginning, it was complicated for me to compete against them and I had to prepare myself and make an effort physically, but I had people next to me that prepared me well for everything.”