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Taylor Fritz has been out of the US Open for nearly a week—and he’s already back to ranting about the quality of tennis balls.
In a 500-word post Thursday, Fritz complained about the difference between the Wilson US Open balls used during the tournament compared to the ones available for public purchase.
“My last two days of practice with Wilson US Open balls have been miserable,” Fritz wrote. “They are sold, marketed, and labeled as the same balls, but the way they come off my racket and feel couldn’t be more different.”
Fritz said that he had “no complaints” about the Wilson balls used at the US Open, or even at the DC Open and Cincinnati Open. He described the balls he’s been using recently as “incredibly soft, dead, and going nowhere.”
He said he’s even tried multiple batches of Wilson US Open tennis balls, but they’ve been “the same across the board.”
Fritz also said that the problem is not solely on Wilson, which also supplies tennis balls used at the French Open. He named Dunlop, the supplier of the Australian Open tennis balls, as part of a “bigger issue.”
“We need to be able to train with the same balls we compete with, and in the past I feel like this wasn’t usually an issue,” Fritz said. The world No. 10 men’s player does not have an endorsement deal with any brand that is a tennis ball supplier for any pro tournament.
“I’ve noticed such a significant difference between retail balls from both Wilson and Dunlop and their tournament equivalents, which are supposed to be identical, that it completely changes how you want to construct points and take risks on shots and just play points in general. I’m not exaggerating it really is making that big of a difference at the pro level.”
He added in a separate tweet that his complaints are not tied to his third round loss at the US Open: “As I said before I really liked the tournament balls and this rant is me wishing I also had them when I come home to train after the tournament.”
Wilson and Dunlop did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fritz has been complaining about the quality of tennis balls for months, notably during a Twitch stream in March, when he said using Dunlop balls are “fucking miserable” to use on a slow court.
“The quality of that ball has gotten so bad over the years. I think they still feel the same when they’re new, but they just used to not blow up the way they’ve been blowing up so quickly,” Fritz said.
He’s far from the only player to have issues with the quality of tennis balls as of late.
At the DC Open, Venus Williams said she’s noticed that many of the balls have “lost quality,” while Jessica Pegula said the Wilson balls she buys at home are “definitely not the same as when you get the US Open.”
Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, said at Wimbledon last year that the quality of balls is “slowing the game down.” (Wimbledon uses Slazenger balls, not Wilson or Dunlop.)
“The Slazenger balls that are used here at Wimbledon are good quality balls,” Djokovic said.
“But they do fluff up earlier or sooner than the ones we used 10 or 15 years ago. I don’t know if it’s related to the manufacturing facility production of the balls whether something in place changed there.”
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