The Giant Slayer: Diego Schwartzman

Every sport has a David and a Goliath I have always been enamored with the underdog. In every sport, an unlikely David will emerge with a chance to somehow, in someway, take down Goliath. And it’s this possibility, however small, that draws me in every time. In hockey we had The Miracle on Ice, where a bunch of US college players beat a Soviet team who had won eight of the previous nine Olympic gold medals. In boxing who can forget Buster Douglas – an unfathomable 42-to-1 underdog – stunning the world by knocking out an undefeated Mike Tyson in Tokyo? And in basketball, I’ll never forget in 2006 when the George Mason Patriots did the unthinkable, defeating Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut all the way to the Final Four. Tennis is no exception, where age often serves as the greatest obstacle. It seems every US Open we relive a 39 year old fist-pumping Jimmy Connors coming back from 2-5 down in the fifth to beat a dejected Aaron Krickstein. Or on the opposite end of the spectrum I remember being glued to the TV as a 17-year old Michael Chang, playing in only his second Roland-Garros,…