“I Served for the Match”: Diego Schwartzman Frustrated After Squandering Lead Against Dominic Thiem

There are a few aspects one needs to keep in mind when playing an important match. Apart from keeping the consistency intact, one needs to be focussed and mentally aware of the surroundings. It is pretty easy to lose track and let exhaustion and pressure take control of the situation. Something similar happened with Diego Schwartzman. He let his concentration slide for the moment and suffered the consequences.

The Argentine was up against Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinal match of the French Open 2020 at the Philippe Chatrier court. Diego started off the match successfully and took the first set. However, the reigning US Open 2020 champion Thiem came back on a strong note and clinched the second set.

There was a neck to neck battle for the third set. Both players unleashed their best shots, and ultimately the set went to a tie-breaker. After a grueling battle in the tie-breaker, Thiem emerged as the winner and lead the match 2 sets to 1. Unable to find an answer to Thiem’s play, Schwartzman was seen speaking to his team. He claimed to have been serving for the match, in the third set after each of the players shared the previous two sets.

“I didn’t serve for the set, I served for the match. Incredible what’s happening,” Schwartzman said to his team.

Diego Schwartzman vs Dominic Thiem

The Argentine is fighting against Thiem for a spot in the semi-finals. For the 28-year-old player, the quarterfinals in the French Open has served as his best performance in the Grand Slams. Diego is well known for his killer shots and putting some heavyweight players into trouble.

After winning the first set, Diego seemed like he could comfortably win against Thiem. However, he couldn’t stick to his game and Thiem proved himself better in the following two sets. The match had gone over the three-hour mark when the incident took place. Understandably, exhaustion was beginning to set in on both players.

Thiem looked to be more exhausted following his long US Open roster in which he emerged the champion. His five-setter match against Hugo Gaston must have also added to his exhaustion.

Thiem was seen struggling with his game early in the game. However, Schwartzman failed to take advantage of this and gave Thiem the chance to bounce back.