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PARIS (Reuters) – French Open organizers have had enough trouble dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, dwindling fans at the venue and inclement weather, but they faced another controversy on Friday: criticism of the choice of the ball for this year’s edition.
Roland Garros switched to Wilson balls for the 2020 tournament after using Babolat for many years and 12-time champion Rafa Nadal was not impressed.
“You have to be careful because under these conditions you can’t practice as much because the ball is very heavy,” the second-seeded Spaniard told reporters on Friday.
“Different brand than last year, a new ball. The ball is much slower than previous years. If we add these cold and wet conditions, then it is super heavy.”
Nadal, a 19-time Grand Slam champion, prefers warmer weather and faster clay courts at his favorite tournament, but faces cooler and wetter conditions at this year’s event, which was delayed to late September from his dates of May to June.
While the decision to change the ball was already known, Nadal felt that the prevailing conditions had an even greater impact.
“I practiced with the balls in Mallorca,” said the Spaniard. “In Mallorca with warm conditions, the ball was very slow, I think it is not a good ball to play on clay, really. That is my personal opinion.
“Even under these conditions it makes things more difficult. But I knew it before I got here. So there is no problem at all. Just accept the challenge.
“(But) I really think that the organization should analyze that over the next few years, also for the health of the players, because the ball is very heavy. (It) becomes dangerous for the elbow and for the shoulders, I think.”
Newly crowned Austrian US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who lost to Nadal in the final of the last two editions at Roland Garros, also prefers the ball used in previous editions.
“I practiced two days at home with the ball. Now, of course, here. I’m a little sad because Babolat at Roland Garros was my favorite ball, it was perfect,” he said.
“Obviously it was my racket company’s ball. It was fast, it gave incredibly good spin. But the Wilson ball is good too. It’s a little slower. It gets a little bigger after a while.” “
However, Russian Daniil Medvedev, who prefers slower clay conditions and less spin, had no complaints.
“I like balls because, yes, tennis is a fun and interesting sport,” said the world number five, who lost to Nadal in last year’s US Open final.
“It’s normal that when a player doesn’t like something, the second player might like it. So far I like it. I think it doesn’t look bad on me.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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