Diego Schwartzman is still practicing despite being close to retirement, but he was the victim of a crime during one of his recent workouts.
Schwartzman announced earlier this season that he will retire at the 2025 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, bringing the curtain down on the 32-year-old’s exceptional career.
In an era when tennis is increasingly dominated by tall players and powerful hitters, there are fewer men and women who are small in stature but defy the odds to be successful.
Jasmine Paolini is the most notable exception on the WTA Tour. Measuring just one and a half meters and ten centimeters tall, the Italian won the Dubai Championships this year and came second at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Paolini also qualified for the upcoming WTA Finals. The draw for the 2024 WTA Finals was made Tuesday and the event will decide whether Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek finishes as No. 1 at the end of the year.
Schwartzman defied the odds in the same way for years. At five feet and seven inches tall, he has continued to have a stellar career, including an appearance in the semi-finals at the 2020 French Open.
The Argentinian made his last appearance at the US Open earlier this year, where he reached the quarter-finals twice. He came through qualifying impressively before losing to Gael Monfils in four sets.
Schwartzman has always been one of the most hard-working and dedicated players on the ATP Tour, and it is no surprise that he will continue to practice and train well before retiring in Buenos Aires next February.
He parked his car during a recent training session in Argentina. Unfortunately, criminals took advantage of that situation to rob Schwartzman and cause other damage.
Schwartzman revealed what happened in an Instagram story. He shared a photo of his car that had been broken into and vandalized, with a short caption that got straight to the point.
“Go out of court and let everything be stolen.”
The former French Open semi-finalist also posted about the situation on X (formerly Twitter), saying he loved Argentina but nothing was more frustrating than being robbed.
“And look how much I love Argentina. But nothing is more frustrating than being robbed.”
Hopefully, the person or group responsible for the crime will be found and Schwartzman’s belongings returned to him. Schwartzman did not indicate which items were stolen in any of his social media posts.
This is not the first case of a tennis player being robbed. Sebastian Korda had a Richard Mille watch worth €300,000 taken from him during the Monte-Carlo Masters. The American was left shocked but not injured after the incident.
Similarly, Maria Timofeeva also had €10,000 stolen from her at the Madrid Open. She then lashed out, saying it happened every time she came to town.
These are terrible events. Tennis players, as public figures, should be protected from these crimes as much as possible, but that is not always easy, especially in Schwartzman’s case, which did not even happen at a major tournament.
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