‘Like a grapefruit’ – Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz weigh in on ball-change problems at China Open

The variety of tennis balls used on the ATP Tour has been one of the topics of conversation at this week’s China Open in Beijing.

The ATP 500 tournament sees almost all of the top players on tour playing in China for the first time since 2019, including world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev.

In the absence of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev look to be the two leading contenders in Beijing.

Both Alcaraz and Medvedev have been asked about the balls used at the tournament following suggestions that changing balls at different tournaments is leading to increased risk of injuries.

Concerns over ball changes were raised last week by Belgian player Zizou Bergs.

Bergs, who has recently recovered from a wrist injury, wrote on Instagram: “Many players are getting wrist injuries, which could possibly be prevented by not changing the balls every week.”

Three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka concurred, replying to Bergs’ post by saying ‘yep’ followed by an eye-rolling emoji.

He also said they were “like apples” after a few games.

Medvedev was asked for his views on the Beijing balls following his win over Alex de Minaur.

“As soon as you play some shots with them, they go very big, much (fluffy)… it becomes like a grapefruit,” he told AFP.

“We’re basically playing 30-shot rallies because it’s almost impossible to hit a winner.

“With these balls, you have to be 100% on every point, until the last point of the match. I managed to do it well so this, I’m happy about.”

Carlos Alcaraz seemed to agree that the balls were a challenge to get used to, but one that he had come to terms with.

“I felt it since the first practice that I did here in Beijing. It is something tough but the tennis player has to get used to that,” said the world No. 2.

“They change balls in every tournament or almost in every tournament is a different ball. You have to get used to that.

“It’s kind of a different feeling when you are coming into a tournament, it’s like: ‘What is going to be the ball?’

“It’s a question that I think every player is asking themselves about the balls. Here, just one game, two games, the ball becomes different from the new ones. It’s kind of different play, and you have to get used to that.”

World No. 8 Taylor Fritz also chimed in with his view on the balls.

Fritz said on X, formerly Twitter, that he’s been “dealing with wrist issues since the beginning of USO [US Open] series cause of ball changes”.

He said that three different balls were used over three weeks.

While Dunlop say it is the “official ball of the ATP Tour”, it is not the ball used at all tournaments.

At this week’s China Open the ball being used is Head Tour.

At the US Open the balls used were Wilson, while at Wimbledon the balls were Slazenger, and at the Australian Open they were Dunlop.

Stefanos Tsitsipas spoke earlier this year about how consistency could help avoid injuries.

“I think the biggest issue this year was the change in balls and that was an issue that has been discussed among the players,” he told SDNA.

“Balls need to stay the same in most tournaments and especially on hard surfaces. This benefits us all and protects players from injury.

“I have had comments from other players about the balls at the beginning of the year and that they had a significant impact on the shoulders, wrists, and arm in general.”

The ATP are yet to comment on the concerns over the ball changes.

There have not yet been any concerns raised about the balls from the top WTA players competing in Beijing.

“Yeah, my shoulder is so sore. I don’t know why Iga and the others wanted to change, to be honest with you. I hope Iga is happy,” said Jabeur with a smile in Cincinnati.

“It’s flying, like, the ball is still flying. I’m not sure what’s the difference in there. But yeah, I mean, I think when you take the ball a little bit late you can feel the difference.

“Definitely not good to hit indoors with these balls, because I tried when it was raining. It was terrible. Again, I grew up not complaining, playing with anything. I’ll play with anything, even rocks. I don’t care.”