Carlos Alcaraz has become the latest tennis star to slam the ATP for making players use different balls almost every week – a decision he branded “unbelievable”. The world No 2 said the men’s tour needed to do something if they wanted to see the best players competing, blaming the changing of balls for injuries.
Tennis balls have been causing controversy this season, with multiple players urging the tours to stop changing the brand and type they use every week. Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz have been among those discussing the issue while Novak Djokovic recently revealed that he spoke to both the president and the CEO of the ATP about the balls.
Alcaraz has now joined the calls for the men’s tennis tour to take action in order to prevent injuries, claiming that the players had used 20 different balls throughout the season. “Well, they should do something about it ’cause it’s unbelievable that if we play three or four tournaments in a row, we play four tournaments with different ball,” the two-time Grand Slam champion said.
The Spaniard was in disbelief at the amount of chopping and changing between the type of balls used during different tournaments, explaining that each portion of the tennis calendar should keep the same ball. He continued: “This is amazing. They should do something about it.
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“Every swing should play with the same ball. For example, Australia, the tournaments in Australia, with the same ball, and then come to South America with the same ball, America with the same ball. Every swing should play with the same ball and not change in every tournament.”
Some players have already started dealing with various arm issues this season and Alcaraz believes that everyone could end up injured if the ATP doesn’t step in. “I think if I hear well, we’ve played with 20 or 21 different balls, something like that, in a year. It’s crazy. There are a lot of players that got injured because of that,” he added.
“If the ATP want the best players in every tournament, they should change it. If not, every player’s going to be injured because of that.” Alcaraz’s comments come just days after Djokovic revealed that he held talks with two top bosses after hearing of his colleagues’ struggles with the changing balls.
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“I actually just had the conversation with Andrea Gaudenzi, president of ATP, and Massimo [Calvelli], the CEO,” the world No 1 said in Paris-Bercy. “Because I haven’t been on the tour for quite some time, so I haven’t had a chance to talk to them. Of course I have seen the comments that more and more players were making about the balls that were used on different tournaments.”
Among the players making comments, three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka joined the debate when he shared a photo of four different types of balls used over four weeks. Medvedev has also voiced his concerns over playing with heavier tennis balls while Fritz opened up on his injury issues several weeks ago. “Have been dealing w wrist issues since beginning of USO series cause of ball changes. We went 3 different balls in 3 weeks,” he tweeted.
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