Daniil Medvedev renews attack on new Dunlop balls after latest win in Dubai; Russian criticised the balls after beating Andy Murray in Qatar Open final; Murray was also critical of balls during Australian Open
Thursday 2 March 2023 22:12, UK
Daniil Medvedev has again expressed concerns over the new Dunlop tennis balls being used at a number of ATP hard court events, saying they're too big.
Following his 6-4, 6-2 win over Matteo Arnaldi at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday, the world No 7 claimed that the balls "are like apples" and are causing injuries to some players as a result.
"Last two games before they change the balls, the balls are like apples," said Medvedev. "They are so, so big. You're kind of playing like padel.
"You hit the ball, whoever hits it with an angle... you don't feel like you're controlling the game anymore.
"In Doha and here, I felt like every time... two or three games with new balls, then the game becomes slower.
"My game was 6-4, 6-2 and it was like one hour 40 minutes which is almost a nonsense, to be honest. It's because the serve doesn't count as much and it's long points."
This is not the first time Medvedev has commented on the issue.
"I think the toughest for me was to get used to the balls," he said after his win over Andy Murray in the Qatar Open final. "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."
Murray has also spoken out about the poor quality of the Dunlop balls.
"It felt like there was no pressure in the ball, flat almost," said the Scot after his five-set thriller against Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open, which went on for almost six hours.
"It's just difficult to hit winners once you're in the rallies. I think there was a 70-shot rally yesterday or multiple 35, 40-shot rallies, which is not normal."
