“The Balls Now on Tour, They Get Slower Everywhere”

By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Friday, August 11, 2023

 Daniil Medvedev believes the tours need to find a way to standardize tennis balls at each event.

World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev feels one of the biggest issues still not properly addressed on tour is that so many tournaments use different tennis balls every week.
 

Medvedev brought up the issue after his straight sets 7-6(7), 7-5 loss to Alex de Minaur in the Toronto ATP 1000 Masters quarterfinals.
 

Up now on Centre Court at the #NBO23, two of the best defenders on the @atptour:@DaniilMedwed vs @alexdeminaur 👀

Winner meets Davidovich Fokina. Get ready for some long, wild rallies 😁

📸 : @PeterMPower / @GylesD pic.twitter.com/KHYdvOqtTQ

— National Bank Open (@NBOtoronto) August 11, 2023

While the former US Open champion gave full credit to his opponent, he felt that the balls used during the match wore out too quickly, making them slow and difficult to play with.

“First of all, he played well. I mean, I felt it was not a bad match. I definitely could have done better to win the first set. I mean, 5-1 on the tie-break, and then 6-4, 5-3 serving for it,” Medvedev said after his match. “So could have done better. But in general, I said before the tournament, I feel like the balls now on tour, I don’t know why, but they get slower everywhere.

“So every match I saw, and we saw a lot of sensations, in my opinion, it’s because when the ball is slower and it gets dead after two games or whatever. Like, second set, we played, I think, long games. When they gave us new balls, we played two long games, and the balls were done,” Medvedev added.

Medvedev also feels that some players, and not him, have the power to hit through balls once they lose their feeling.

“In general, I think it brings the level closer of all the players just because it’s tough to hit them. So there are couple of players that can, that are really strong, and they, let’s call it, penetrate the ball. I don’t know if it’s a good word. Like Carlos (Alcaraz). Like (Alejandro) Davidovich, actually. I think that’s why he’s in the semis. I think Casper Ruud can do it. So some players.

And the other, like me, I don’t have this power to generate easily on a slow ball with a slow ball. And so today, like, with the previous two opponents, even if they’re really strong, it was enough to, let’s say, one, one, and one, control the ball, and they were in trouble. With Alex, it’s not enough. You need to go…