ATP President makes major announcement on the quality of tennis balls after Daniil Medvedev’s rant
Daniil Medvedev made a point about the poor quality of tennis balls during the Beijing Open earlier this year.
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Daniil Medvedev (Image via X)
ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi has shared an update about tennis ball quality for the 2025 season. The 2024 season raised concerns about the balls, with players complaining they led to injuries. Daniil Medvedev was one of the players who voiced his concerns.
In an interview with L’Equipe, Gaudenzi assured that the ATP has listened to player feedback. He promised to ensure consistency in the quality of balls used on the tour.
We have centralized the choice of balls. It will take a little time because the tournaments have contracts with the manufacturers and we have to wait for them to expire. But we have listened to the players and we want to bring back consistency in the tours with balls chosen by the ATP. For example, from Monte-Carlo to Rome, they will be the same balls. On the other hand, we do not have control over the balls used by the Grand Slams. We made this decision last year and it will be gradually applied in 2025.
ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi on L’Equipe
Medvedev made the most notable complaint about the issue. After a match at the Beijing Open, he criticized the poor quality of the balls. Alexander Zverev also expressed concerns about the same problem.
Each Grand Slam has its own deal with different manufacturers, leading to variation. The Australian Open uses Dunlop balls, the French Open and US Open use Wilson, while Wimbledon uses Slazenger. These tournaments consume over 50,000 balls each year, offering significant exposure to manufacturers.
Daniil Medvedev’s 2024 season: Overview
Daniil Medvedev did not win an ATP title throughout the season. However, his consistency and ability to advance deep into tournaments earned him a spot in the top 5 of the ATP rankings.
The Russian started the season strongly with a finals appearance at the Australian Open. However, he lost to Jannik Sinner in the final despite being two sets up. Notably, this was the second time he lost an Australian Open final after leading by two sets, the first being against Rafael Nadal in 2022.
Throughout the season, Medvedev consistently reached the latter stages of major events. He made the finals at Indian Wells and the semifinals in Miami. He also advanced to the semifinals of Wimbledon, where he secured his only win over Sinner for the year.
The key theme of Medvedev’s 2024 season was falling short against Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who dominated most of the year. His season ended with a disappointing group-stage exit at the ATP Finals.
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Fahad Hamid
(626 Articles Published)