Big Delpo, little Diego: restoring Argentina’s glory days

On Wednesday, everyone’s favourite, the 198cm-tall champion Del Potro, still making heart-warmingly giant strides back to the summit of the game after years of potentially career-ending wrist injuries, and Schwartzman, a 170cm scurrying terrier who never knows when he is beaten, will proudly represent their country in the quarter-finals. It’s the first time Argentina has had two men in the last eight here since 2005 when Mariano Puerta, an eventual finalist, and Guillermo Canas reached the same stage.

In August that same season, five Argentine men were in the world’s top 12. Go back a year before that; Gastón Gaudio beat Guillermo Coria in the Roland-Garros final. Ah, halcyon days for those sky-blue heroes like 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian.

Now, with the 2009 US Open champion Del Potro, the man who assumed their mantle, returning to his pomp at No.6 in the world and Schwartzman on the verge of the top 10, this little-and-large combo fancy those days could be on the horizon again.

“Well, many years had to pass by because many people retired, and we're not as numerous as we were a few years back,” shrugged ‘Delpo’, who meets his old adversary Marin Cilic, the No.3 seed, on Wednesday. “But I’m happy for what we’re doing.”

All this in football’s World Cup year too when most Argentines have their eyes trained only on Lionel Messi and co. Well, they’re united by that same passion too as big supporters of the Buenos Aires giants Boca Juniors, with Schwartzman, in particular, mad for the club that the peerless Diego Maradona graced.

Indeed, El Diego has taken a shine to the tough little tennis bantam from BA who wanted to be a soccer No.10 long before tennis claimed him.

“I have a good relationship with Maradona," Schwartzman told the ATP World Tour website. "Before, he’d say 'hey Dieguito [little Diego], say hello to big Diego.' When I reached the quarter-finals at the US Open last year, he told me I no longer go by Dieguito. From that point on, I'm also big Diego!”

At Roland-Garros, we’ve been able to see what Maradona means. Schwartzman’s five-set comeback win after taking a rare battering from Kevin Anderson showcased a little guy with a big heart and real fire.

Like everyone else, Schwartzman loves Delpo - if he had his dream soccer team of tennis players, he reckons Juan Martin would be his star striker, alongside Dominic Thiem - and recognises that the crowds here in Paris, as everywhere else, adore the big man for the calm stoicism, fight and sportsmanship he’s shown in his own comeback.

“He's a big player and a big man. I think the people love him,” says Schwartzman. Yet he has his own mission too. “I hope maybe people can understand tennis is for everyone. Is not just for the tall guys who can serve fast and have bigger arms than me."

Del Potro watched his 25-year-old pal’s resistance against Anderson on the TV and was deeply impressed, believing he has the athletic game to give even 10-time champion Rafa Nadal plenty of concern in the quarter-finals.

“It was an unbelievable game he played,” noted Del Potro. He may stand nearly a foot taller than his friend but when he looks at Schwartzman, perhaps he can see the same spirit that has carried him back from the doldrums.

Go, big Diego! Go mighty Delpo!