Alexander Zverev gave a pretty detailed and interesting answer when asked about the balls issue as the German claims the manufacturers have been producing “a lot worse and slower” balls since the pandemic because they wanted to cut down on their costs.
For the past two years, there has been a lot of talk about the constantl ball changes across the ATP and WTA Tours. And some of the loudest critics have been some of the best players in the game, most notably Daniil Medvedev – who has complained numerous times about the same thing.
At the start of this week’s ATP Finals in Turin, the conversations surrounding the balls resurfaced after the Russian tennis star said anyone could play rallies with him now and that he wasn’t enjoying playing tennis anymore.
On Monday, Zverev beat Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 and later said that the surface in Turin was “too slow for a hard court. Also, the world No. 2 revealed he thinks the game is “missing game styles” because nowadays there are no big differences between surfaces.
Then he was asked if the balls were to blame for that.
“Yeah, the ball is a big subject. I actually, because I’m on the players council, the ball was a very interesting subject to me, as well. I kind of went into search mode a little bit. I asked companies and I asked the production of the tennis balls. Since COVID, all the companies, it’s not only one company, so Dunlop was always the best tennis ball kind of, but they’ve gotten a lot worse. I always loved the Penn balls. They’ve gotten a lot slower,” Zverev said.
“The reason being, because of COVID, the companies tried to cut costs and they’re using a different rubber material now. They’re using a different material for the tennis balls, which makes the tennis balls between 30% and 60% slower on average compared to what it was before COVID. I just generally think in general, it’s not only one company, but in general the balls got a lot worse and a lot slower. They’re not as consistent anymore. They don’t last as long anymore.
“Before even a Dunlop ball, why I used to love it, why a Dunlop ball was so great, when they were new, they were very fast through the court, then they got bigger. When they got bigger, they were still flying through the air because the air inside and the pressure inside didn’t leave. The ball just fluffed up.”
Alexander Zverev© Rolex Paris Masters/Instagram – Fair Use
Zverev agrees with the notion that the balls cause injuries
After the 2023 Australian Open, some players – which were Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas – stunningly claimed that the new balls were causing what at the time was labeled as “mytserious” injuries on the Tour. As the season progressed and more players started to deal with issues to their upper body, more came forward with the same claim.
And now, Zverev is confirming that his colleagues were right and that it definitely wasn’t a nonsense.
“What happens now with the tennis balls is that the air and the pressure leaves the tennis ball because of the material. The material doesn’t keep it inside. It’s not only that the ball fluffs up, but actually the air and the pressure of the tennis ball drops drastically. That’s why a lot of players now have elbow issues. A lot of players have wrist issues. That was not the case about 10, 15 years ago,” the 27-year-old added.
After making his point clear, Zverev was fair enough to acknowledge that his season has gone well so he shouldn’t be the one complaining that much about it. This year, the German made his second Grand Slam final at the French Open – won the Masters events in Rome and Paris – and returned to his career-high ranking of No. 2 in the world.
“I don’t know if I explained it well or understood. I was very interested in the tennis ball. I don’t have a reason to complain. I’m No. 2 in the world. I’ve had a great season. I’m not complaining because of results. I just think in long-term, long run, players’ health is a big issue with the tennis balls we have at the moment. They’re a little bit like a shuttlecock. They fly very fast through the air the first two, three meters, then they just slow down. There’s nothing that keeps the ball alive, which was very different about five, six years ago,” the 2024 French Open runner up said.
On Wednesday, the German will take on Carlos Alcaraz in his second match at the ATP Finals. If Zverev wins, he will book a semifinal spot and come two wins away from landing his third ATP Finals title.