Daniil Medvedev urges ATP to look at 'super fluffy' balls due to injury worries after Qatar Open

Amid questions over his confidence level right now and whether he was back to his best after winning the Qatar Open, there was another issue on Daniil Medvedev’s mind: “super fluffy” balls. Medvedev won the tournament for the loss of just one set, beating Andy Murray in the final to claim back-to-back ATP titles. But he is not happy about the balls being used on tour and has warned they could cause injury.

Ad Dunlop is the manufacturer of the balls that were used at the Qatar Open, as well as at the Australian Open and the Rotterdam Open, where Medvedev won the title. Medvedev said the feeling of playing shots became like “throwing a big heavy ball” as they were used more. ATP DohaMedvedev beats Murray to win Qatar Open, his second title in nine days25/02/2023 AT 17:25 “I think the toughest for me was to get used to the balls,” explained the former world No.

1 after the final against Murray. “I want to talk a little bit more about it because in Australia, I felt like these balls were not good for hard courts, and in the match with [Sebastian] Korda, before the match, I had a very big pain in my wrist, but I thought, ‘okay, that's my problem, so I'm not going to talk much about it’. “Then in Rotterdam, when doubles players came to me and started talking about balls and started talking that everyone has problems with their elbow, wrist, from doubles players, they think it's because of the balls.

I'm like, ‘wow, so I'm not the only one’. “Now I see [Holger] Rune, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, who else, Korda, all wrist, elbow, shoulder. So I think that these balls are not good for hard courts.