Light balls reduce injury risk, says WTA
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NEW YORK • The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has defended the use of different tennis balls for male and female players at the US Open, after women's world No. 1 Iga Swiatek called the balls being used at the upcoming Grand Slam "horrible" and questioned the disparity.
"The USTA works closely with the WTA and ATP Tour, their player councils and our brand partner on an annual basis to determine what type of balls they recommend playing with for the coming US Open," the body told ESPN.
"These decisions are made months in advance in order to stock the nearly 100,000 competition balls used at the US Open every year.
"A number of factors are considered in these decisions, and the USTA will continue to follow the recommendations of the tours and their player councils to determine which balls are utilised during the US Open."
The US Open is the only Major to feature lighter balls for women's matches and this presents a problem for power hitters from Swiatek to fourth-ranked Paula Badosa.
The Spaniard screen-capped the Pole's comments in an Instagram video over the weekend, adding: "Totally agree. These are really unfavourable conditions for the players."
Amy Binder, the WTA's senior vice president of global communications, has said the tour will be addressing player concerns and will look into the matter after the tournament.
"The WTA has always utilised regular felt balls for hard-court play, and we have now begun to hear from a select number of our athletes that they would like to consider a change to using the extra duty ball," she added.
"The basis behind using the regular felt ball was that it limited the potential of arm, shoulder, elbow and wrist injuries. This is something that we will continue to monitor and discuss further with both our athletes and our sports science teams."
