Daniil Medvedev has condemned the use of slow tennis balls while competing at the 2023 Vienna Open.
The World No. 3 is having a successful run at the ATP 500 tournament so far. He moved past Arthur Fils in straight sets before fighting back from a set down to defeat Grigor Dimitrov and set up a quarter-final clash with Karen Khachanov.
After his first-round match, Medvedev voiced his discontent about the slow pace of tennis balls at some ATP tournaments, re-iterating the concerns of many players about the changing of balls between competitions.
The 27-year-old suggested that the ATP should take into account the pace of the court when deciding which balls to use for tournaments.
"The rule could be at least not to put slow balls on slow hard courts and perhaps slow balls on fast hard courts. And so on, medium could be medium or fast, something like that. Because sometimes, for example here in Vienna, the balls get bigger. But the course is quite fast, so I don't think it's a big problem," he said.
The Russian went on to warn of the huge physical impact a lack of consideration about the balls used can have on players.
"The biggest problem is when it's a slow pitch and slow balls, it's a disaster physically and yes, I hope a solution can be found," he continued.
This comes after months of players speaking against the different balls used on the ATP and WTA Tour, with Taylor Fritz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Paula Badosa, Stan Wawrinka, Eva Lys, and Zizou Bergs all among the many players voicing their concerns.
Daniil Medvedev says playing with slow balls on slow hard courts is ‘a physical disaster’: "The rule could be at least not to put slow balls on slow hard courts & perhaps slow balls on fast hard courts. And so on, medium could be medium or fast, something like that. Because…
