After cruising to a straight-sets win over Lithuanian wild-card Vilius Gaubas at the Italian Open, Alexander Zverev raised concerns about the quality and consistency of the tournament’s tennis balls.
The German star and former finalist in Rome didn’t mince words in his post-match press conference, questioning the performance of the Dunlop balls used at the event.
“The balls are much slower this year. I don’t know what they’ve changed,” Zverev said. “We’ve used Dunlop throughout the clay season — in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Monaco — and they were extremely fast. But here, it feels completely different.”
Despite Dunlop being the official ball provider for several ATP clay tournaments, Zverev claimed that the balls in Rome behave noticeably slower, prompting him to adjust his equipment.
“I’ve had to lower my string tension by three kilos compared to other tournaments,” he explained. “The courts themselves haven’t changed, so it really comes down to the balls.”
Zverev’s remarks echo a broader issue increasingly raised by players: the lack of consistency in ball quality throughout the ATP calendar. While differences in climate and surface are expected, Zverev believes ball variations should be minimized.
“They say it’s the same ball, but there’s no way. It feels completely different. It’s strange,” he said. “In a sport where feel and precision are everything, even small changes matter.”
His comments add fuel to a long-standing debate over whether the ATP should mandate a single type of ball for the entire season, much like how surface consistency is regulated.
