Diego Schwartzman could not replicate his performance from Rome where he defeated Nadal today as he lost to the Spaniard in the Roland Garros semifinal.
Diego Schwartzman had to fight hard to reach the Roland Garros semifinal where he faced Rafael Nadal today and he lost. The Argentinian simply lacked the fire he had in Rome when he defeated Nadal on some three weeks ago. When asked about the match he simply said:
“Rafa is Rafa. I think he knows how to improve. He knows how to practise, how to do everything. After Rome, he [went] straight to practice. He went to improve the things that he did badly in Rome. That's why he's in the final right now.”
And indeed, some of the things that plagued him in Rome weren't displayed today as he routed Schwartzman quite comfortably.
Diego echoed those sentiments by saying:
“He played better than Rome. He has a lot of matches right now in his body, so it's better for him. He improved a few things than maybe in Rome he did not so well. Maybe I did a few mistakes with my backhand today... Maybe today I did a few mistakes trying to move the ball, trying to be aggressive. That was different in Rome, also.”
While his impressive Roland Garros run saw him overcome world-class player and recently crowned Grand Slam champion Dominic Thiem he admitted that playing Nadal is an entirely different beast:
“It’s different playing against Djokovic, Federer, Rafa, these guys. It’s not easy playing them [best of] five sets because you have to play your best tennis maybe for three, four hours, five hours. It's not easy."
He continued by saying:
"Physically it's very hard. Mentally it's very hard. To improve and to beat the best guys on Tour, you have to play them and you have to beat them. I like to play five sets. I felt really good today. Physically I was perfect, but it's tough to keep the level really high against these guys for maybe more than three hours.”