Daniil Medvedev urges ATP to look at 'super fluffy' balls due to injury worries after Qatar Open
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Published 28/02/2023 at 12:13 GMT
Daniil Medvedev says the ATP needs to "reconsider" the ball situation on tour as the current ones are like "throwing a big heavy ball” and could lead to injuries. Speaking after winning the Qatar Open, Medvedev said he has spoken to doubles players who have expressed concerns over the balls. Dunlop are the manufacturer of the balls that were used at the Qatar Open, as well as the Australian Open.
Highlights: Medvedev beats Murray to claim the Qatar Open title
Amid questions over his confidence level right now and whether he was back to his best after winning the Qatar Open, there was another issue on Daniil Medvedev’s mind: “super fluffy” balls.
Medvedev won the tournament for the loss of just one set, beating Andy Murray in the final to claim back-to-back ATP titles. But he is not happy about the balls being used on tour and has warned they could cause injury.
Dunlop is the manufacturer of the balls that were used at the Qatar Open, as well as at the Australian Open and the Rotterdam Open, where Medvedev won the title. Medvedev said the feeling of playing shots became like “throwing a big heavy ball” as they were used more.
“I think the toughest for me was to get used to the balls,” explained the former world No. 1 after the final against Murray.
“I want to talk a little bit more about it because in Australia, I felt like these balls were not good for hard courts, and in the match with [Sebastian] Korda, before the match, I had a very big pain in my wrist, but I thought, ‘okay, that's my problem, so I'm not going to talk much about it’.
“Then in Rotterdam, when doubles players came to me and started talking about balls and started talking that everyone has problems with their elbow, wrist, from doubles players, they think it's because of the balls. I'm like, ‘wow, so I'm not the only one’.
“Now I see [Holger] Rune, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, who else, Korda, all wrist, elbow, shoulder. So I think that these balls are not good for hard courts. They get very fluffy, and as I say, it's a big shock to play them with your racquet.
“I think this should be reconsidered because I feel like if I don't do enough job on my wrist every day, it's gonna just, you know, be very painful.”
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There was discussion about the balls in the early stages of the Australian Open, where Dunlop has a deal until at least 2028.
Rafael Nadal said the balls were “worse quality” than the previous year at the Grand Slam, while Murray called them “flat”. Felix Auger-Aliassime complained to the umpire about the balls during his second-round match, saying they were “not bouncing” and were “terrible”.
Asked if he had spoken to the ATP about the ball situation, Medvedev said: “I haven't talked. I talked a little bit to the supervisor, but the thing is that I wonder what other players think. You're not going to be in the locker, you know, coming to every other player asking about the balls.
“So maybe if people going to start asking them, maybe finally I'm going to be the only one arguing about the balls, and then I'm just, that's my problem.
“If there is going to be 15 players that come out and say, ‘yeah, I feel the same’, then it's a problem of the balls. I'm just going to wait and see what happens when other players get asked this question.”
Murray was asked about Medvedev’s comments following the final.
“When they're new they are extremely fast, but very quickly they become very slow.
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“Yeah, I mean, they are the same as we have been playing the last couple of months. Generally on tour now we play with very slow conditions and slow tennis balls, so it's nothing new.”
Women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek was another player to express frustration about ball quality at last summer’s US Open.
Until this year it was also the case that Dubai used the same balls as the US Open, but this season they switched to the same Dunlop balls used at the Australian Open and Qatar Open.
"I'm pretty happy that this year finally we have the same balls,” said Swiatek ahead of the tournament, where she made the final.
“Because every year we had to adjust and change the ball every week, which was pretty stupid for me. Right now it makes sense."
Describing the difference between the balls, Swiatek added: "I think in Doha we used Australian Open Dunlop. Here we had US Open, the women's type. It was really light and it was flying like crazy.
"The Australian Open Dunlop is more bouncy, I would say. It is dynamic, but it's not flying without control. That's what I felt when I played with the US Open one. It's just my opinion, though."
Medvedev feeling ‘great’
Despite his complaints about the ball situation, Medvedev looked in good form in Doha.
He dispatched Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals before beating Murray, and after an up-and-down 2022 season is now moving back up the rankings to No.7.
“I managed to find momentum in Rotterdam,” he reflected.
“The first two matches I played there were tough. I didn’t feel good before that tournament, and then starting in the quarter-finals against Felix I started to find my rhythm.
“I started to play really good. Serve better, move better. Today it was tough for Andy to put the balls through me many times, and now the question is [if it] can continue. I’m going to try as long as I can.
“To be honest, every time you get a title, you feel great and you feel like this winning feeling is back, you are back, you can get even bigger titles, even bigger wins. But that's all about confidence, and confidence, as it can go really fast, it can go away really fast with one loss.
“So I feel great right now at the moment. I have a tournament to play next week, so it's a new week, a new challenge, and then we go to USA to the other part of the world, jet lag, everything. Right now I'm feeling great, and I want to try to continue feeling this way.”
Medvedev is in action this week in Dubai where he is the third seed and faces qualifier Matteo Arnaldi in his first match.
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