5.39pm: Fritz defeats Murray after 3 hours 2 minutes 8.30pm: Fritz walks onto court to face Thompson 9.59pm: Fritz defeats Thompson to make the semis, totalling 4 hours 20 minutes of play Marathon man 🥵 @Taylor_Fritz97
" I mean they're awful....the heaviest balls in the world": American trio Fritz, Pegula and Tiafoe left bemused and critical at DC Open Washington balls
Tennis NewsSaturday, 05 August 2023 at 20:00
The
American Stars Criticize Tennis Balls at Citi Open, Including Taylor Fritz,
Frances Tiafoe, and Jessica Pegula.
The
top-ranked American players have been critical of the tennis balls being used
at the Citi Open this week. On the men's side, Fritz reached the semifinals and
is the last remaining American in the draw, making him the favorite to lift the
trophy.
Following
his match against Australian Jordan Thompson, Fritz expressed his criticism of
the heavy tennis balls.
"These
balls, I mean they're awful....the heaviest balls in the world."
Read also
"Yeah,
it was a war. Just with how these balls are, they're so, like, just slow dead,
it's really tough to, like, finish points. You're going to just inevitably have
these really long, physical rallies."
On the
men's side as well, Tiafoe didn't have the same luck as Fritz and fell in the
quarterfinals against Dan Evans. The world No. 10 had played earlier against
Shang Juncheng, but couldn't maintain the pace in the evening match against the
British player.
"I
feel all right. It was really muggy out there. I think the balls help him a
lot. They are quite fluffy this week, so it's tough to hit through them. He's
able to play his game quite nicely. It was hard, man. I mean, obviously, it's
not really an excuse, he did the same thing as me. He stayed late last night,
whatever, and he won a pretty convincing match earlier in the day."
"The
balls are a bit puffy here. Slower conditions, which helps him with the slice
and stuff, slowing me down. Yeah, definitely makes it more physical."
In the
women's draw, Jessica Pegula also joined the criticism after her challenging
encounter against Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.
"Yeah, it was tricky. It was swirling there in the stadium. The balls
felt kind of heavy."
"But,
yeah, I'm glad that I did (arrived early), because the balls are a ball I have
never played with before. It definitely took me a few days to, like, adjust my
tension and get used to the conditions. So that kind of worked out."
Pegula will
face Maria Sakkari for a spot in the DC Open final, and there could be an
all-American final if Coco Gauff defeats Ludmila Samsonova in the second
semifinal.
Just In
Popular News
Latest Comments
- Bitchy Jean King just said (in interview) "the WTA players should stop whining about the schedule and just Play". That's how she really feels about "my girls".
mandoist16-11-2024 - I go for Sinner
AceOfBase14-11-2024 - Kudos to the journalist here for putting Krejcikova's statement first, making it more important than all the shiiite uttered by Wertheim.MrAndreeva11-11-2024
- Daring prediction from Mats :-)AceOfBase10-11-2024
- Zheng v Gauff the best final we could get. Both were and remain in top form the last few weeks. Queenwen even the whole year almost. If she finds her aces she's a contender. If not, Gauff's gonna take it.MrAndreeva08-11-2024
