US Open under pressure as second player speaks out on women having different tennis balls
Paula Badosa has become the second top player to put pressure on the US Open to change their tennis balls for the female players. It comes after world No 1 Iga Swiatek slammed the lighter tennis balls given to the women as “horrible” and called for the WTA to get their players the chance to use the same balls as the men.
The US Open came under fire from the top-ranked tennis player after Swiatek hit out at the decision for the Grand Slam and its lead-up hard court tournaments to provide the WTA players with different, lighter balls compared to the ATP men. The two-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she and Badosa held meetings with the WTA boss to try and get them changed to no avail, and the Spaniard has now joined Swiatek in putting pressure on the tournament.
The world No 4 took to her Instagram account to echo the Pole’s sentiment and spoke out on the difference in the tennis balls given to the women. “Totally agree,” the Spaniard wrote, reposting Swiatek’s words to her story.
“Very unfavourable conditions for the players and for the show. Then we complain that there are many mistakes and tactics and intelligence have been lost in the points. [While dealing with] faster courts and IMPOSSIBLE balls to control.”
