Alex de Minaur, resigned to discovering himself overpowered once more on the French Open, believes the heavier tennis balls being employed at Roland Garros can solely assist probably the most highly effective hitters.
De Minaur, one of many extra slight gamers on tour who depends on pace and court docket craft and might’t match the firepower of the larger sluggers on clay, as soon as once more discovered himself outgunned by heavier artillery on Thursday as he obtained knocked out within the second spherical in straight units by Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
The dogged Australian was left resigned to the acquainted feeling that “I did everything in my power” and but it was nonetheless not sufficient.
But whereas accepting Etcheverry had performed the a lot better sport, he felt his personal struggles have been partly all the way down to the brand new Wilson balls getting used.
“There’s no denying he’s a great clay-court player. He’s a strong player,” stated de Minaur.
“I think it’s just tough, especially on the surface, but I think also these balls, they’re very heavy and get big very quickly.”
There has not been as a lot controversy concerning the Roland Garros balls as there was main into the Australian Open, the place numerous gamers complained concerning the slower, heavier balls used there.
But there’s been some concern in Paris from gamers about how rapidly the felt of the Wilson balls is fluffing up, which tends to go well with bodily stronger gamers.
De Minaur believes, even when the climate stays heat and dry all through Roland Garros because it has all through the championship, the heavier hitters will excel.
“Naturally they are heavy balls, even when they’re new, and it takes literally one game for the balls to get pretty big,” de Minaur stated.
“And then you have got to play another six games, or eight games, with those balls and they get massive, almost like they don’t have a lot of pressure.
“So I feel in the end, you are going to be seeing loads of the massive hitters, the stronger guys, getting good outcomes and benefiting from a majority of these balls, as a result of they nearly can hit the ball tougher and tougher and never be fearful about lacking.”
In contrast, the 1.83m, 74kg de Minaur was increasingly struggling.
“Game after sport, I used to be on the market attempting new issues. I used to be attempting to press and overpress however I simply wasn’t getting something out of the court docket and the ball, and that led to me attempting to go for much more and have loads of errors.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
