INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

September 21, 2020

Diego Schwartzman

Press Conference

D. SCHWARTZMAN/N. Djokovic

7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First of all, congratulations for a great, great tournament. Everyone I met was enthusiastic about your performance, especially Nadal, but also last night, unbelievable. Were you tired today? Did you think when you were up 3-Love that you could go on and on until the end?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: Well, thank you, first. I think today I played a great match in the baseline and I did many good things. The first set, maybe the start of the second, I was on control -- not control of the match, but doing what I want to do on court, you know, playing aggressive, playing solid with good movements.

But I think the serve, the conditions today, almost raining, was not helping me to do good serves and have the second ball in a good place.

After the start, very good start for me, I think I served really bad for one or two games in a row. Then he start to play a little bit better.

But then I had the chance again with the breakpoint. And the start of the second was the same, break up.

I had the chances like I had the chances like when I played against Rafa. But today was that kind of days that you don't take the chances, and at the end, you know, Novak is Novak. The last three, four games he played unbelievable.

Q. You have had a tough week in Rome this week. So many long matches. Six days before the French Open. How do you think that tournament run will affect you going to Paris?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: No, everything is positive. We have many days. I mean, you should think we are playing every single day here. I play the day before against Rafa, finishing, going to sleep at 2:00 a.m. Yesterday going to sleep at 1:00 a.m. And today again. So for us it's a classic tournament on clay, playing many hours, not resting.

Six days for us is like a year (smiling). So we have a lot of days. I have to recover, but I also have a lot of confidence. So I just have positive things this week.

Q. Having played both Rafa and Novak this week, I'm just wondering who do you think is going to be the more dangerous of the two in Paris and why?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: It's a difficult question. Novak didn't lose a match on court this year. Happened to him the default but not losing in a whole match, I mean, normal match this year. So he's going with a lot of confidence and knowing that.

And Rafa is the king. It's his house. He went to Roland Garros many years playing good, sometimes not playing his best and he won. He won 11 or 12 times.

It's a difficult question. I think Rafa is always there, the guy who is going to win. But Dominic, Novak, many guys are arriving, playing good matches on clay.

Q. That win against Nadal in the Masters and making a Masters final, and obviously you're top 10 now, so how do you feel about maybe playing a Grand Slam final in the future or an ATP Finals final?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: I hope. I hope to be there. I'm trying to practice. I'm trying to play. I'm trying to do everything to be there and to be ready for that moments.

If the moments are coming, I hope so. I'm working for that. So I hope to have in the future that kind of matches.

Q. Did I see correctly that Maradona acknowledged you on social media? Wondering what that means and if you've met him before?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: Met him before many, many times. We have a good relation. He's a big guy. He did history here in Italy. He's almost most famous here in Italy than in Argentina (smiling).

So it's great to have him every single time with the Argentinian people in the sports. He's always watching, always there, always supporting. So it's very nice. I know him, and I just enjoy when these things are happening.

Q. What do you expect from yourself in Paris? Because, you know, best-of-five, it's something that frightens you a bit on clay? Because you have to run so much that you run more than everybody else, so to run for five sets is something worrying or not?

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN: I'm worry about the first COVID test really (smiling). Always the first COVID and the second one right now is the worst thing you can do in a tournament. You're waiting, you can't sleep because maybe it's false, maybe not, and you don't know if you're going to play the tournament (smiling).

Right now is the only thing I'm thinking, because today we have a lot of people here, people in the ceremony, so, you know, I'm just scared about the first test.

But after that, I hope to enjoy. I hope to play good tennis, and if this happen, I know I have chances.