Carlos Alcaraz brought the problem of the inconsistency of the tennis balls used during various events on the touring under the projectors after his opening match at the Rotterdam 2025 open.
The world n ° 3 stressed that there were “many players” who suffered injuries in the elbow or shoulder last year because he said that “something has to change”.
Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Emma Raducanu have all questioned the frequent changes of bullets in the past two seasons.
Medvedev was the most vocal and regular critic of the quality of the bullets since he expressed fears of having “shoulder pain for the rest of my life” in 2023.
In a match at Shanghai Masters in October, Medvedev called the tournament supervisor to increase his grievances.
“These balls are not good enough for professional tennis,” said Russian. “It is one of the biggest tournaments in the world and the balls are destroyed after five games. No pressure at all.”
The US Open 2021 champion later argued that this type of ball helps Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, but not the other players.
“I think it essentially promotes people who can benefit from the power of dead bullets. Some have better quality with that. Some do not do so, ”said Medvedev.
“In fact, the two best players to do this, they are already the best players in the world, and I’m sure they would be without bullets, but with these balls, these are the only players who can generate crazy power. It’s Jannik and Carlos. This gives them an additional advantage.”
During his press conference after defeating Botic Van de Zandschulp in the first round in Rotterdam, Alcaraz weighed on the subject.
“I think last year there were a lot of injuries, many players with elbow or shoulder problems,” said the 21 -year -old. “Something should change. I know they will change it.
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“Each week, almost every week, we have different balls, different conditions, so it is complicated to adapt to it.
“However, we are here to give our best and give the best of ourselves. I haven’t had physical problems because of this so far, I work every day to be in good shape. At the moment, I’m fine.”
The Spaniard added: “I had a good training to adapt, but it was difficult. New balls, everything seems to move very quickly … and after two or three exchanges, the ball becomes very large and it is a little difficult to play with aggressiveness with them.
“However, I don’t want to complain about it; I think that even, you can show a good level of tennis.”
Alcaraz also expressed his concerns concerning the disparity in the game conditions and the balls used from week to week during the Masters of Paris in November.
“We are tennis players, every week is different, you know, different conditions, different shorts, different balls,” said Spanish.
“We have to get used to it, but at some point, it should be different, it should be better. But you know, we can’t do anything about it.”
Alcaraz will face Andrea Vavassori or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round of the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam.
Read then: “ Carlos Alcaraz has arms to oppose Jannik Sinner, but he continues to make mistakes ”
