The little yellow ball drives them crazy. Or at least skeptical: “Balls are a big problem,” lamented world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, frustrated like the majority of his colleagues, at having to play with different balls from one tournament to another and having lost a lot, according to them, in quality.
This is the subject that ignites the post-matches of the Masters ATP : not the future of the “masters tournament” which, after 2025, could leave Italy, but the quality of the balls used throughout the year on the circuit.
Not a press conference in Turin without the subject, recurring on the circuit as well as the speed of the surfaces on which they play, being raised by the players.
The ATP has had a partnership contract since 2019, extended last year until 2028, with Dunlop, but the balls from the Japanese manufacturer are only used “by almost half of the tournaments on the circuit, including four Masters 1000 and the ATP Masters”recalled the body which oversees the men's circuit.
“Zero pleasure”
Tournament organizers can have their own ball supplier on their side, as is the case for the four Grand Slam tournaments which consume more than 50,000 balls each year and provide manufacturers with much sought-after exposure to amateur players.
L’Australian Open is supplied by Dunlop, Roland-Garros and theUS Open at the American Wilson and Wimbledon at the British Slazenger.
“When we have a sequence of four tournaments on the same continent, we can have four different ball suppliers, that can make things difficult, it’s quite a challenge”the summary Casper Ruud after his resounding victory against Carlos Alcaraz (6-1, 7-5).
The most virulent on the subject is the world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev who, recently in Shanghai, pretended to spit on a ball and wipe his butt with another.
“Every day, for two or three years, I have had this problem (with balls), every training session, every match is a struggle, I feel zero pleasure when I am on the court”hit the Russian after his disappointment against the American Taylor Fritz (6-4, 6-3).
“The problem is general and not limited to one supplier: the quality of the balls has deteriorated, they have become slower, they last less, they change from one batch to another, they lint more”added Zverev after his victory against Andrey Rublev (6-4, 6-4).
Cost reduction
The German, a member of the ATP Players' Council, claims to have done research, discussed with the manufacturers, and delivered his conclusions. “Because of the Covid pandemic, manufacturers have tried to reduce their production costs and are using a different rubber which makes the balls 30-60% slower”he estimated.
“Because of this new base material used, the air and pressure do not remain in the ball, this air and this pressure drops dramatically as the rallies progress”continued the recent winner of the Masters 1000 de Paris.
How do these balls changed every seven games behave? “A bit like badminton shuttlecocks, they are very fast for the first two or three meters, then they just slow down”he illustrated.
Et Zverev to sound the alarm by worrying about the impact on the health of players: “It is because of the balls that many players have shoulder and wrist problems, this was not the case ten or fifteen years ago”.
Ruud wants to see him in these sometimes unpredictable bounces of the little yellow balls “in a way all the beauty of our sport”.
“If there was only one supplier, it would be unfair to those who prefer Tecnifibre or Wilson balls”points out the Norwegian.
