From Alexander Zverev to Casper Ruud: A look at how the tennis world is divided about the controversy surrounding changing quality of tennis balls

Men's tennis has been rife for debate regarding the quality of current tennis balls, with the likes of Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev giving their thoughts on the topic. While Zverev and Medvedev have been negative about the balls employed at this week's ATP Finals, Ruud and Rublev have struck a different note.

Alexander Zverev started his campaign at the year-end championships in Turin on fire earlier this week, dismissing eighth-seeded Rublev 6-4, 6-4 in his first round-robin match on Monday (November 11). Speaking to the media afterward, the two-time ATP Finals champion put the Dunlop balls that are used on the men's pro tour on blast.

The German claimed that elbow and wrist injuries had become more frequent since the pressure was decreased in the tennis balls — thereby allowing rallies to be longer. He also asserted that this wasn't the case before the COVID-19 pandemic, inferring that the manufacturers had slowed down the balls to cut costs all across the board.

"When they got bigger, they were still flying through the air... the ball just fluffed up," Alexander Zverev said during his post-match press conference. "What happens now with the tennis balls is that the air and the pressure leaves the tennis ball because of the material."

"It's not only that the ball fluffs up, but actually the air and the pressure of the tennis ball drops drastically. That's why a lot of players now have elbow issues. A lot of players have wrist issues," he added. "They've gotten a lot slower. The reason being, because of COVID, the companies tried to cut costs and they're using a different rubber material now."

Casper Ruud, meanwhile, strayed from giving an overly negative opinion on the quality of the balls after his win over Carlos Alcaraz. The World No. 7 insisted that there were bound to be a few pros who liked the low-pressure Dunlop balls.

The Norwegian also implied that he personally had no problem with the current balls while touching up on how different parts of the ATP Tour season employ different balls.

"I understand if you have a stretch of four tournaments in the same continent and they all use four different balls, it can be difficult and challenging. At the same time you have certain players they like the Dunlop ball," Casper Ruud said. "If you just stick to one ball, it would be in a way a bit unfair for whoever likes the Tecnifibre ball."

"In a way it's the beauty of the game. It's nice because you'll have different winners," he added. "Personally, let's say I don't really like the Penn ball. I can say it out loud."

Unlike his peers, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev was very neutral regarding the above topic. The Russian felt that the speed of the courts might also be a factor contributing to slower exchanges from the baseline.

"I don't know if the courts change a lot or the balls, but something changed," Rublev said after his first round-robin match in Turin this week. "Maybe both, I don't know. It changed that much that I don't really care anymore because doesn't matter which balls you play, it's tough to control them."

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Daniil Medvedev echoes Alexander Zverev's sentiments regarding current balls: "I heard about this, some players are saying it's exactly after COVID that it changed"

Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev are unhappy with the current balls

Daniil Medvedev, on his part, seemingly agreed with Alexander Zverev's theory about the tennis ball manufacturers' cost-cutting measures following the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to the media following his round-robin victory against Alex de Minaur at the ATP Finals on Tuesday (November 12), the former World No. 1 said that he had to alter the tension in his strings to get more used to the balls.

"I don't know where Sascha [Alexander Zverev] did the research. I heard about this. Some players like me that are not satisfied with the balls, they're saying it's exactly after COVID that it changed," Medvedev said. "I had to change strings for softer ones so my ball goes faster through the air because I basically couldn't hit a winner anymore. It worked well."

While Medvedev has had his share of problems with the balls being used at the year-end championships, he is still in contention for a semifinal spot when he takes on Jannik Sinner in his last round-robin match.