Schwartzman: Beauty of Big 3

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Diego Schwartzman's vision of Big 3 dazzling appeal is well worth sharing.After bowing to 12-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal in today's French Open semifinals, Schwartzman was asked his view of the Big 3 champions Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Nadal.More: Nadal Sweeps Schwartzman Into 13th RG FinalThe world No. 14 says diversity is defining feature of Big 3 beauty."I'm not going to say who is the better," Schwartzman said. "But I can say the most beautiful thing about these three guys is how different are these guys on court and outside the court. They are really different."

Those differences range from their personalities to style of play to preferred surface to stroke production to the grunts—and silence they emit on court—to even their disparate diets."If you see, I don't know, the food from Nole, the food from Rafa or Roger, then how they play on court. One like play on clay, the other one on grass," Schwartzman said. "You know, they are different. Also one lefty, the other one aggressive, the other one is sliding like nobody."I think the most beautiful thing it's for sure how different these guys are. So that's amazing. From me, is the best part to play with these guys. I'm enjoying a lot because at this time I can play against these three guys in different tournaments, so I'm enjoying a lot to see these guys on tour and playing against them."Schwartzman, who fell to 1-10 lifetime vs. Nadal, is winless in five meetings with world No. 1 Djokovic and 0-4 vs. Federer. The Argentinean baseliner says beating a Big 3 player not only requires your best tennis, it typically takes a near-perfect performance. "Well, it's different playing against Djokovic, Federer, Rafa, these guys," Schwartzman said. "[It] is not easy playing them five sets because you have to play your best tennis maybe for three, four hours, five hours. It's not easy. It's not easy."Physically it's very hard. Mentally it's very hard. To improve and to beat the best guys on tour, you have to play them and you have to beat them. I like to play five sets. I feel really good today. Physically I was perfect. But, yeah, it's tough to keep the level really high against these guys for maybe more than three hours."Photo credit: Roland Garros Facebook]]>