Paula Badosa and Tennys Sandgren voice support to Portuguese player Gastao Elias who demands ATP to pay for his physiotherapy for low quality balls that are causing injuries 

Many players have complained about the degrading quality of tennis balls on the tour.

Paula Badosa and Tennys Sandgren voice support to Portuguese player Gastao Elias who demands ATP to pay for his physiotherapy for low quality balls that are causing injuries 

Paula Badosa joins Gastao Elias in criticizing ATP and WTA over poor quality of balls (Images via X, Reuters, Tennis World)

Spanish tennis ace Paula Badosa and American player Tennys Sandgren have voiced their support for Portuguese player Gastao Elias who has demanded that ATP pay for his physiotherapy considering the injuries are caused due to the low quality of balls being used in tournaments. Elias complained about the quality of the balls after his defeat to Marco Trungelliti in qualifying for the ATP Challenger tournament in Buenos Aires.

The Portuguese vented his frustration on social media where he called this constant ball change by ATP inhumane. “I demand @atptour to pay for all the physiotherapy I will need after playing with these balls they are making us play with,” he wrote. “I’ve been on tour for many years and I’ve never seen anything like this. THIS IS INHUMANE!”

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Tennys Sandgren agreed to it, saying, “I agree. Never seen anything like it.” Meanwhile, Paula Badosa was quick to jump into the debate and pointed out that the issue is not limited to players in the ATP. “Agree! The issue is not only ATP unfortunately… With the WTA we are having the same problems for years as well. We need a change from both sides,” she wrote. 

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Also Read: WATCH: Andrey Rublev complaints to the chair umpire who then asks a fan to ‘stop eating’ during the Shanghai Masters 2023 

What have others said about the quality of balls being used by ATP?

It is worth mentioning that tennis players are not so happy with the injuries happening due to changes in the quality of balls across tournaments. Both ATP and WTA are being held accountable for the injuries, especially wrist injuries. Many big names on the tour like Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have talked about the constant change in the quality of balls across tournaments. 

Carlos Alcaraz-Daniil Medvedev
Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev (Image via News18)

Most recently at the China Open where top players from the world took part, Medvedev pointed out how difficult it has become to hit winners with these grapefruit-like balls which get heavy as the match progresses. The Russian claimed that players are being forced to play longer rallies. “We’re basically playing 30-shot rallies because it’s almost impossible to hit a winner,” said Medvedev (via Eurosport). 

Meanwhile, Alcaraz too accepted that using different types of balls in different tournaments poses a challenge to the players. “They change balls in every tournament or almost in every tournament is a different ball…“It’s kind of a different feeling when you are coming into a tournament, it’s like: ‘What is going to be the ball?’ he said. 

The first player to have pointed out this issue was Belgian player Zizou Bergs who recently recovered from a wrist injury. Others like Stan Wawrinka, Taylor Fritz, and Stefanos Tsitsipas have agreed to this issue and have suggested ATP to maintain consistency in the quality of balls being used.

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