Yellow felt and rubber core. The tennis ball looks really simple. But reality is more complicated. This is true for a professional tour where the manufacturer can make a ball that suits various specifications. And in recent years, athletes have begun to complain about the consistency and the quality of the ball that have not been seen before because they had to adapt to different balls in numerous tournaments.
Nobakjokovic said. The same was true of Rafael Nadal. And Taylor Fritz, Danil Medvedev, Stan Barbrin Car, Andrey Rublep. According to the players and coaches, various balls not only reduced the quality of the play, but also accused the players on the shoulders, elbows, especially the increase in wrist injuries.
Craig Boynton, a coach of Hubert Hurkacz, said, “The best ball has been in the last few years.” “They should not choose the ball to pay the most money regarding the tournament, but to choose what the best ball is.”
The low quality ball feels like a stone at the beginning of the game, but after a few games, Boynton said, “It swells like a small kitten.” Then, in order to replenish the lack of balls, you can swing with a stronger force to become a “player who wants to make the ball stronger.”
But this is only half of the story, Boynton said. Wayne Ferreira, a former coach of France Tiafoe, says that even if the quality of the ball is high, the ball played is too diverse. Players often see different brands every week.
“Some are heavier and some are lighter, so it’s hard to adjust it all the time,” he said.
The list of unfortunate players was too long and the criticism was so big that I felt that ATP and WTA had to respond. Earlier this year they promised a comprehensive review of this problem.
Ross Hutchins, the chief sports officer of ATP, said, “It’s natural to be sensitive to change because players have a lot of feelings about their rackets.” “To be honest, this has been difficult for decades, but we realized that we could do better.”
He said they made tremendous progress. The ATP surveyed the air manufacturing itself, but instead decided that centralizing the public purchasing process, which had been entrusted to individual tournaments for a long time, was the best solution.
They considering putting one manufacturer throughout the season, but instead they set only one ball (Wilson, Penn, Babolat, Dunlop, etc.), Hutchins said. He added that the scope of the swing can vary up to 10 in a few tournaments in certain areas and certain surfaces.
Therefore, the year begins through Australia and New Zealand, followed by the Middle East and North America. All tournaments are held on outdoor hard coats, but each group may use different balls.
At the end of this year, there will be a ball for European Clay Court Swing and grass coat swing. ATP is especially working with the WTA to use the same ball as possible when men and women play in the same position.
“ATP will negotiate with manufacturers and supervise public development to get the best ball for each swing.”
The process began this year and he said that when each transaction between individual tournaments and manufacturers ends, the ATP will integrate the tournament into a centralized process. Five more next year will be added, and by 2026, they will control more than 75% of the tournament, and 2029 will be the target date of “complete adjustment that controls everything”.
The exception is a grand slam that operates independently with ATP and WTA and has its own contract with public manufacturers. “SLAMS is the main gear of the tennis wheels. But we have a lot of tournaments around them and can control what we can control,” Hutchins said.
He said that the Australian Open, US Open, and Wimbledon were a good partner, so the ball used in the slam will be consistent with the ball used in the future tournament and will only be used as a French Open. ATP is using Dunlop ball. It’s a clay coat season, but the French Open has signed a contract with Wilson.
Matthew Epsen, chairman of Matthew Ebden, said, “We stress thousands of balls a day to stress tendons and muscles. I will. ” ATP’s Athletic Advisory Committee. (Epsen ranked first in doubles this year.)
EBDEN said that all improvements would be positive and hoped that the ATP would challenge the brand to maintain the quality and integrity of the ball.
Hutchins said the tournament director and manufacturer were careful at first, but “very acceptable.” He said that ATP is putting pressure on the manufacturer to fulfill more than the basic specifications, to understand the player’s concerns, and to check what adjustments they can.
“If they don’t follow to the end, we will not continue with them,” he added. “But I can’t remember the case of the manufacturer ignoring our feedback.”
Boynton says each swing has a lot of variables, including altitude, heat, humidity, hard coat speed and roughness. Huins said, “The appropriate ball supplier’s choice takes place with the condition of the entire swing.”
He added that he aimed to “optimize the ball’s performance according to certain conditions while maintaining the same brand throughout the swing.”
Ferreira said it would be impossible to explain all variables, including a player with a variety of styles (eg, an agile defender) that wants different things in each ball.
“After all, everything is part of the game, so I need some adjustments,” he said. “You can’t always be perfect for everyone, so the best that ATP can do is to provide consistency.”
