Women and men will use the identical tennis ball this yr on the U.S. Open, satisfying some girls who complained final yr they have been hitting an inferior product.
Prime-ranked Iga Swiatek — who finally gained the event — was among the many girls who felt their lighter ball didn’t maintain its energy so long as the one which was utilized by males. The U.S. Open had been the one one of many 4 Grand Slam tournaments that used a distinct ball for women and men.
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Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open’s event director, stated Thursday that the kind of ball getting used was totally as much as the gamers and their tour, and that the U.S. Tennis Affiliation solely wanted to know their choice after final yr’s event so sufficient balls could possibly be ordered from supplier Wilson.
“We’ve got been unwavering. That’s been their determination,” Allaster stated.
She met final yr with a number of the gamers who made clear their choice for the “additional responsibility” felt ball, reasonably than the “common responsibility” felt ball the ladies had been utilizing for many years. The additional responsibility ball is famous by Wilson to be very best for arduous courts, the sort utilized in Flushing Meadows.
Allaster stated she informed the gamers to speak to management of the WTA Tour and their gamers’ council.
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“If the WTA desires to alter the ball, no drawback,” Allaster informed them. “Wilson accommodates that, it’s no additional value, and so the one situation we gave to the WTA was we have to know what ball you wish to play with in 2023 on the finish of the 2022 U.S. Open. That’s how far the lead occasions are for Wilson to provide the quantity of our U.S. Open ball.”
Gamers have been utilizing the ball through the hard-court warmup tournaments in Canada and Ohio and can proceed on a trial foundation on the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 28. Allaster stated the USTA will then await a solution on what balls to order for 2024.
Different adjustments being applied embody using tablets by coaches sitting of their bins, given them entry to real-time stats and video, and gamers’ challenges to evaluation conditions reminiscent of a ball they consider bounced twice