Daniil Medvedev has expressed concern over Dunlop balls used at the Australian Open and other ATP hard court events, saying they are responsible for an increase in injuries to elite players.
The world No. 7 has expressed his irritation at the quality of balls after knocking out the Qatar Open and insists he is not the only player concerned.
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andy Murray have all mentioned their problems with used balls at the Australian Open, with some saying they are “bulling too much” and others complaining they lose bounce.
However, Medvedev’s protest that balls are now causing injuries is something new.
“The last two games before they exchanged the balls, the balls are like apples,” said the Russian.
Daniil Medvedev has expressed concern over Dunlop balls used at the Australian Open and other ATP hard court events, saying they are responsible for an increase in injuries to elite players.
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andy Murray have all mentioned their problems with balls used at the Australian Open, with some saying they are “bulling too much” and others complaining they lose bounce.
‘They are so, so big. You are playing like padel. You hit the ball. Who hits with an angle… You don’t feel like you’re controlling the game anymore’.
Medvedev is in great shape and has won two titles this year, so his criticism cannot be put down to sour grapes.
‘I want to talk a little more about this because in Australia, I felt that these balls were not good for hard courts, and in the match with (Sebastian) Korda, before the match, I felt a very strong pain in my wrist, but I thought: ‘okay , that’s my problem, so I’m not going to talk about it too much,’ he said after his recent victory in Doha.
‘So in Rotterdam, when doubles players came up to me and started talking about balls and started talking that everyone has elbow problems, wrist problems, 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 these balls are not good for hard courts. They look really cute and like I said it’s quite a shock to play them with your racket.
‘I think this should be reconsidered because I feel that if I don’t work enough on my wrist every day it will be very painful.’
Medvedev asked other players to voice their ball problems in the hope that changes would be made.
‘I spoke with the supervisor a little bit, but the fact is, I wonder what the other players think. You’re not going to be in the closet, you know, coming to all the other players asking about the balls,’ he said.
Medvedev believes there is a link between the balls and players getting injured and has asked other players to voice their complaints in hopes that changes will be made.
Tennis Australia has renewed its contract with Dunlop for another five years despite player criticism over the balls
’ So maybe if people start asking, maybe finally I’m the only one arguing about the balls, and then I just, that’s my problem.
‘If there are 15 players who will come and say, ‘yeah, I feel the same way’ then it’s a ball problem. I’ll just wait and see what happens when other players ask this question.’
Tennis Australia has renewed its contract with Dunlop for a further five years despite player criticism over the balls.
“Tennis Australia and Dunlop have renewed their partnership for a further five years,” said a TA spokesman.
‘Dunlop has a long history of producing high quality tennis balls with consistency, durability and little variation. Dunlop is the most used ball on the international tennis circuit.
‘Player satisfaction is vital and we will continue to collect feedback from the player pool and ensure it is factored into the design, manufacturing and testing process.’