Daniil Medvedev is not one to shy away from voicing his opinion while contesting an ATP Tour match.
Throughout his career, the Russian has frequently challenged the decisions of umpires and is not afraid to voice his opinion to an opponent.
On Monday, Medvedev was midway through his Rotterdam Open first-round match against Ugo Humbert when he called the tournament supervisor onto court.
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Medvedev, who had just lost the opening set 6-7 to Humbert, took issue with the type of tennis ball being used at the tournament.
Medvedev went on to lose the contest 6-7, 6-3, 3-6.
Daniil Medvedev says the Rotterdam Open HEAD balls are ‘not round’
In a discussion with the Rotterdam Open tournament supervisor, Medvedev said: “Head balls, are they round? It is round? Are you sure because I see it not round, I see it with a bit of, how you say it, narrow. I don’t know how you call it.
“It’s a bit of… let’s see, scars. So it’s not super round. Isn’t it strange?
He added: “So I think maybe we should consider not playing with HEAD balls. HEAD Tour XT balls is not round so we should not be playing with it, nobody should be buying it.
“We should not be promoting a tennis ball that is not round.”
Medvedev and the tournament supervisor continued to engage in a back-and-forth discussion, with Medvedev again repeating that he found the situation ‘strange.’
The Russian concluded: “The problem is you touch it with the racket, it doesn’t react the same way on your shots. So how do you want us to play tennis?”
Later in the contest, Medvedev let out an outburst: “These balls are horrible. Please delete this f––––– balls from this f–––––– life.”
This is far from the first time that tennis balls used by the ATP Tour have been criticised.
In January, Taylor Fritz complained that the quality of tennis balls on the Tour ‘have lost a huge amount of quality.’
During a United Cup press conference, Fritz said: “I’ve talked with other players about this. Even if they’ve slowed down the surface in Shanghai or Paris, the most important effect comes from the fact that the balls have lost a huge amount of quality.
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“They wear out very quickly, become big and it’s very difficult to produce aggressive and effective tennis.
“There should be more variety regarding the speed of the balls, so that in certain tournaments, you would be rewarded for your aggressiveness.
“Now, I can hit the ball as hard as possible five times, my opponent will be on it and return it into the court. We need tennis to reward aggressive players.”
Richard Krajicek discusses the tennis balls used on Tour
Richard Krajicek [pictured below], the 1993 Wimbledon Men’s Singles champion and Rotterdam Open tournament director, discussed the ‘dramatic’ change in the quality of tennis balls compared to when he was playing on the professional circuit.
“The other thing I’d add to that is conditions have changed dramatically in tennis,” Krajicek said on the Off Court with Greg podcast.
“You look at the balls now, they’re all pretty slow and fluffy. The courts are medium to slow.
“There’s not many quick courts out there these days. So, it doesn’t really allow for the serve and volley.”
