Alexander Zverev says the balls used at this year’s Italian Open are a ‘joke’ and completely different from those used at other tournaments after crashing out of the draw.
The world No.2 suffered a 7-6(1), 6-4, loss to Lorenzo Musetti in a late-night encounter at the Foro Italico. Zverev struggled to find his range at times in the match, which saw him make 36 unforced errors. 14 more than that of his opponent. He also won just 50% of his second service points.
Playing in a lively atmosphere with the Italian crowd cheering on home player Musertti, Zverev reached boiling point early in the second set. During a changeover, he voiced his anger about the ball quality during an expletive rant in which he complained that they were ‘impossible to play with.’
“These balls are terrible. You can’t hit through the court with them,” Zverev was heard saying.
“It’s impossible to play tennis with this {expletive}, if this is entertaining tennis I don’t know what the {expletive} we’re doing. I’m tired of this {expletive}.”
Zverev continued to voice his displeasure after the match during his media engagements. He is not the first player to raise concerns about the consistency of ball quality at tournaments. Some have linked the differences to an increase in certain injuries for players as they are having to adjust their hitting patterns. The ATP have previously stated that they are looking into ways to resolve the issues. This issue has also been raised on the women’s Tour.
“Balls were a joke,” Zverev told reporters.
“This is a subject we’ve had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time. They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, and Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different.
“The ball is very, very big. It’s very difficult to hit winners here. It’s just how it is these days.
“For my game style, it was not easy because at the end of the day I’m still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I’m still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That’s how it is. It’s difficult to get free points.”
Besides his criticism of the balls, Zverev described Musetti as somebody who ‘depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents.’ It is the third time in a row the German has lost to him since the start of 2024. Musetti was a runner-up at the Monte Carlo Masters and has a win-loss record of 22-4 on the clay since July.
Zverev has won one title so far this season, which was on clay at the Munich Open last month.
