Diego Schwartzman has labelled Jannik Sinner “scary” and singled out the world No 1 as the most intimidating player he has faced in his career.
The former world No 8 described Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as “gods”, while calling a quality possessed by Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as “crazy.”
Schwartzman has lost all four of the matches he has played against Sinner without winning a set. The Argentine was beaten 6-2, 6-2 in the pair’s first meeting in the 2021 Antwerp final before losing to the Italian three times in 2023.
The 32-year-old won one of his 12 encounters with Nadal, while he holds a 0-7 record against Djokovic and a 0-4 record against Federer.
Schwartzman announced in May that he will retire from tennis after the 2025 Argentina Open.
“Let’s choose one of the new guys. I think Sinner. I played him a few times. He wasn’t even top 10 yet. I was saying ‘Come on… what is this guy?’ Sliding, power, movement, everything. It’s scary,” the Argentine said.
“It’s crazy because we played against Novak, Roger, Rafa. These guys are gods. But Sinner and Alcaraz… what they do with their bodies is crazy.”
Earlier this year, Schwartzman spoke about Nadal’s unique mentality and contrasted the legendary Spaniard’s approach with that of Djokovic and Federer.
“I think Rafa, of the three, is the one who commands the most respect when you enter the court. It’s like you enter the court a little more defeated,” the four-time ATP title winner told ESPN.
“With the others, if you catch Djokovic angry one day or if he grabs a couple of balls and has moments of frustration, and Federer, being so relaxed, sometimes gives you options to get into the match.
“But Nadal, from the moment you start playing with him, from the beginning to the end, it seems like it is the last point of his career. It’s hard. He commands so much respect in you that sometimes you say, ‘How do I do it?’
“And he handles that perfectly, because it makes him take fewer shots than Federer or Djokovic and he keeps winning. It is very difficult to sustain what he does from the first minute.”