The US Open is the only one of the grand slam tournaments where the women play with lighter balls than the men. The reason women’s lighter balls were introduced decades ago was the risk of injury, but today’s female stars feel they handle the heavier balls they play on in all other hard court tournaments just fine.
During the tournament in Cincinnati, again before the US Open where the lighter balls were used, Swiatek took the blade from his mouth in the ball issue.
— The balls are terrible. Especially after a few games with really hard play, then they just get easier and easier. In the end, you can’t even serve at 170 kilometers per hour because the ball flies all the way in the world. Unfortunately, the balls are very bad, she said.
“Not fun to watch”
Swiatek said the balls can lead to mistakes and poor play.
— I know that many players complain, several top ten players. We are guaranteed to make more mistakes. So it can’t be fun to watch.
On the ball manufacturer Wilson’s website, it even states that the lighter balls are best suited to soft surfaces such as gravel and indoor courts.
The coach of three-time grand slam winner Ashleigh Barty, who retired earlier this year, has said the Australian could never have won the US Open because of the balls. At the same time, Craig Tyzzer believes that Emma Raducanu’s surprising victory of last year’s tournament is precisely due to the balls, writes Inside the games.
Too late
The US Open organizer thinks the criticism of the balls comes too late.
“Decisions about the balls must be made many months in advance in order for us to bring home nearly 100,000 competition balls to be used in the US Open,” the US Tennis Association said in a statement, according to the AP.
Amy Binder, a spokeswoman for the women’s tennis organization WTA, wrote in an email to the AP that it has started to hear from players that they want the heavier balls.
“We will continue to look at it and discuss further with both the actives and our science team,” she wrote.