"Balls of Shit"
who benefits?—bottom half chances
A quick little update.
After the completion of the first round at Roland Garros, it’s clear that the balls are indeed getting very big, fluffy, and slow after a few games of use. As I wrote in my tournament preview, Daniil Medvedev was not a fan, and had this to say after his first-round loss:
“In my opinion, players who have like, I don’t know how even to say it, but like a wrist game, like my opponent today, like Carlos [Alcaraz], I think Stefanos [Tsitsipas] a little bit, have big advantage with these balls, because they can create easy power, which I don’t have. That was a little bit the case today. He was controlling almost all the points, and I was suffering a lot, especially on the side against the wind.”
Benoit Paire, never shy to speak his thoughts, echoed Medvedev’s comments:
"The balls are really bad. It's balls of shit. Look at the color of the thing, the size of the thing. You play with balls that get bigger after two seconds. The new balls don’t even last a game. The balls are rubbish. That’s not the reason why I didn’t win but you can’t play tennis, though, with that type of ball. You can’t attack. You can’t move ahead. It’s impossible to serve an ace. It’s another style of tennis, which is different. It requires physical qualities. It’s a question of who can keep the ball in the court for the longest. You have to hit every ball really hard because it’s not moving. It’s terrible. It’s Roland Garros, one of the greatest tournaments in the world, and we’re playing with these silly balls."
Laslo Djere—never one to shy away from slower conditions—also wasn’t happy:
“When I trained outside of Roland Garros, the ball flies, but here it doesn’t. I don’t think I’m badly prepared physically, but after two and a half hours, hitting every ball at 200 percent, it goes backwards.”
And it wasn’t just a case of losing players coming up with excuses. Holger Rune admitted it wasn’t to his liking after a four-set win over Christopher Eubanks:
"Yeah, it's getting very, very slow, the ball. It's getting very fluffy and big. It's making the game very slow. It's not my favourite ball, to be honest, but, you know, it is what it is. But for sure the ball is slower and it feels different compared to last year."
Who Benefits?
As Medvedev said, players who have power on tap benefit the most from these conditions; they can overcome the slower ball with the added benefit of having more time to set up and prepare their shots. Who do I think can take advantage of their draw?
First Quarter
Carlos Alcaraz won’t mind the slower ball. He has plenty of power from both wings and after several games of wear, it should compliment his drop shot.
Stefanos Tsitsipas also has a huge “serve plus one” (forehand) game that should give him an edge, especially as he usually struggles against big servers targeting his backhand. The extra time it affords him should help navigate toward a match with Alcaraz.
Denis Shapovalov certainly has power to be tamed, but I don’t know if he has the form or movement on clay to really pose a threat this year.
Fabio Fognini is already through to the third-round at the time of writing. He hasn’t dropped a set, has won Monte Carlo before (traditionally one of the slowest events), and is one of those guys who can go on a tear without much warning.
Lucas Pouille can crack it and is on a little roll after years of injury struggles. I think he can beat Cam Norrie.
Second Quarter
Novak Djokovic isn’t exactly a power player and his recent struggles on clay make him more vulnerable than usual. Still, he is a two-time champion here and the king of absorbing pace. He carries a big stick and shouldn’t be too bothered by these conditions if his arm is healthy.
Andrey Rublev won’t have any trouble getting his first serve and forehand through these conditions. They are big shots. The question mark is over his second serve and his backhand. If he can keep them together he has a good chance to make another quarterfinal here.
Stan Wawrinka is locked in a battle with Thanasi Kokkinakis right now. Both those guys have the weapons to hit through slower conditions, but fitness is the bigger question for both.
I think Karen Khachanov will struggle to hit through these conditions with his extreme forehand grip. Radu Albot is on a roll and may snatch a win.
Third Quarter
Holger Rune should make it to the fourth-round meeting, where I think he will meet…
Francisco Cerundolo. A truly huge forehand that will have no trouble hitting through slow conditions. Still, he has tough players in Yannik Hanfmann and Taylor Fritz to navigate.
Jiri Lehecka quietly snuck through against red-hot Jan-Lennard Struff, and the Czech can play big from the back off both wings. I think he will reach the fourth-round where he will meet…
Casper Ruud. Initially, I had Giulio Zeppieri upsetting Ruud in my tournament preview, but Ruud’s form is better than I think I gave him credit for, and most of his clay court losses were to in-form players or in conditions very different from here. Ruud’s serve and forehand will get through the slow balls, and I actually like his draw if he can get through the Italian.
Fourth Quarter
It feels like it’s Jannik Sinner’s time to reach a slam semi. While he has had strong results on all court speeds, I think slow clay suits his swings best.
Grigor Dimitrov and Emil Ruusuvuori both have the power to get it through the court. An interesting match where the winner likely meets Sinner.
I’m not sleeping on Zverev. He is a hard player to beat in slow conditions, and he doesn’t come in with much attention on him—could make a surprise semi.
Can Thiago Seyboth Wild capitalise on this draw after that epic win? It’s his to lose for the next few rounds.
Aslan Karatsev is also a player who can fire through slower conditions.
A huge number of five-setters in the opening round (21/64 matches). Did conditions play a part in that? Physicality is a must to win this tournament. With slower balls, players with sledgehammer strokes and supreme fitness will be rewarded.
I wonder if the slow balls actually favour highly coiled forehands (like Kachanov's) by increasing the time the player has to set up and making it easier to time them (arguably, if you have to hit harder to compensate for softness it is easier to mishit/shank a ball, but whippy strokes still provide a sizable chunk of easy power when given time and space). Someone who has been sailing so far in the women's side is Daria Kasatkina, who has a very "nextgen-y" forehand by WTA standards.
I also wonder if some players are willing to adapt their racquet set-up (by dropping string tension or whatever) to compensate for the conditions or whether that's too risky when you've been training with a given set-up for months.
Hi Hugh what do you think about switching between the nextgen and modern forehand depending on the point. Would switching to the nextgen forehand on an attackable ball bring results?