Several tennis players have spoken out about the quality of tennis balls already this year on the ATP Tour.
Daniil Medvedev slammed the tennis balls in Rotterdam during his first-round match victory against Ugo Humbert.
In a furious tirade, Medvedev shouted: “The problem is when you touch it with the racket, it does not react the same way on your shots, so how do you want us to play tennis?”
It’s not the first time players have complained about the balls, as they seem to fluff up quicker and earlier than ever before, and a WTA Tour star has shared her displeasure while practising at Indian Wells.
The tennis balls at Indian Wells have already been criticised
Medvedev is not alone in his complaints, and the likes of Arthur Fils and Alex de Minaur also spoke about their displeasure while in Rotterdam.
The problem could be rearing its ugly head at Indian Wells, too, as Aliaksandra Sasnovich has already criticised the quality of the balls at the Masters tournament.
Sasnovich took to Instagram to post a picture of an incredibly fluffed up ball, with the caption: “After 25 minutes of playing.”
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Indian Wells is one of the biggest tournaments on the calendar, and often cited as the unofficial fifth Grand Slam.
If the debate rumbles on to one of tennis’ biggest stages, it could be enough to sanction a major change in the sport.
Some players have called for the quality of the balls to be looked at, while others have suggested they be changed more frequently.
To date, new balls are currently introduced after the first seven games, to account for the warm-up, and then every nine games thereafter.
What other top players have said about the quality of tennis balls
Medvedev’s outburst at the Rotterdam Open led many other players to jump to his defence, including de Minaur and Fils.
Speaking about his relationship with the Head balls in Rotterdam, de Minaur said: “I have struggled a lot in practice.
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“I have actually been quite frustrated with the balls in practice, which is not like me. I do get what Daniil says about the balls.
“They are definitely not my favourite. I don’t think they are anyone’s favourite balls. They are very difficult to control.”
Fils, meanwhile, was even more damning and suggested the ATP Tour needed to make a major change.
“They are terrible. Really terrible. The ball is very bad. It is unbelievable. When we are playing at this level, literally playing professionally, very good players, then watching the balls after two games getting bigger and very slow, that is not normal.
“I don’t know who is in charge of it, maybe ATP or whatever, but they have to do better, because it is not normal to play with these balls at our level.”
Should the problem transition to Indian Wells, the tennis authority will need to have a re-think about their current tactics.
