Schwartzman opens up on mental health struggles: "This year I had quite a few anxiety attacks, tennis is a bit like that"

Diego Schwartzman becomes the latest tennis player to openly speak about mental health explaining his battle with anxiety attacks.

Anxiety attacks or panic attacks are nothing uncommon with many people experiencing at least one in their life. They do become a problem and taxing if they keep happening which then requires attention. Schwartzman experienced several this year as he revealed in a recent interview:

"This year I had quite a few anxiety attacks. Tennis is a bit like that. The best thing is to aim for the short term and set goals Tour after Tour (after each season). If they told me at 17 that I was going to do what I have done, I would have signed, but when you enter in the vortex it is a rhythm that is difficult to stop."

Schwartzman achieved far more than anyone expected and it's a remarkable achievement considering his rather short stature for a tennis player. Still, after all those successes, he doubted his own level:

"You reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros, but then you reach the quarter-finals at an ATP 500 and you wonder if it’s good or bad. This year I started 14th in the world. Today, I’m 18th and I say to myself: ‘What a shitty year.’ Then I think and it is not like that. One enters into that of listening to the other, both in the positive and in the criticism. When the bad comes, one loses the analysis of what is happening."

Like many before him, Schwartzman advocated for people to talk to therapists confirming he has been going himself:

"This year I started therapy for everything that happens to me. Not only on the court but in life, for fears, anxieties and things that are normal. For the first time I started that process because I felt that I needed a little outside help to have other tools to solve."