Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman feels that he will not win the 2019 Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award by ATP. He predicts that it is the French Open 2019 runner-up Dominic Thiem who will claim the award.
Diego Schwartzman is honoured to be nominated along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem for this year’s ATP Sportsmanship Award. It is the first time that the 27-year-old is nominated for the award.
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However, Schwartzman believes that Thiem could win the award for showing the maximum level of professionalism and integrity throughout the year. According to the World No.14, Dominic Thiem exemplified the ideal of sportsmanship on the court with ethical behaviour, fair play and respect with every opponent that he faced.
“I think that Thiem can win it (Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award). He showed throughout the year competitiveness and respect with everyone. That was spectacular,” Diego Schwartzman said in an interview with the Argentine national daily sports newspaper – Ole.
“He has had great years of his career and this was much better still for the achievements he had. So I think he is competing even better this year and maintaining his way of being. He has a good chance of winning it,” the Argentine claimed.
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Diego Schwartzman was also awarded the men’s US Open 2019 Sportsmanship Award, which is presented to the players who best demonstrate excellence in sportsmanship throughout the US Open Series and the US Open. Schwartzman reached the quarterfinals in New York, where he lost to the eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
He was also delighted to be nominated for the year-end award. He said: “The truth is that it was spectacular. In fact, I learned first through social networks rather than the official designation that the ATP sends you by mail.”
The Sportsmanship Award is granted to the player who, throughout the year, conducted himself at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, who competed with his fellow players with the utmost spirit of fairness and who promoted the game through his off-court activities. World No.1 Rafael Nadal claimed the prestigious award last year.
