Why do balls make everyone growl at Roland Garros?

Rafael Nadal, September 28, 2020 at Roland-Garros.

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• Rafael Nadal and many other players are complaining about the tournament's new balls, which are considered too heavy and dangerous for the joints.

• It is now the American Wilson who equips Roland-Garros with balls, after the end of the partnership with Babolat.

• If the new ball is less lively or lighter than the old one, it is because the organization wanted it so.

At Roland-Garros,

We opened the roof to him so as not to disorient him too much, already he was quite grumpy since he took back the keys to his second house.

A little attention that made Rafa Nadal more kind to us on Monday after his quiet victory over the open Chatrier.

Invited to put the cover on the conditions of play and the quality of the balls Wilson, new partner of the tournament, the monarch of Menorca has put water in his sangria.

“I wasn't complaining.

My opinion has not changed, the conditions are the same as four days ago.

But I'm here to give the best of myself and stay positive ”.

Four days ago, therefore, the Spaniard had knocked out the impetrants.

"This is not the correct ball to play on clay"

“I trained with these balls in Spain, and they were already slow with the heat.

For me it is not the correct ball to play on clay.

I accept the challenge, but the organization must think about it, because these balls can be dangerous for the elbows and the shoulders ”.

Let us all together complete Nadal's declaration of transparency to the high authority in public tennis.

Roland's 100-time winner has been under contract with Babolat since he was a kid, which doesn't help him speak highly of the Wilson's being used in 2020. But King has spoken and the topic has gone viral at Roland, where he It must be said that we get really bored once we have talked about the atmosphere and more or less positive Covid tests.

Everyone was therefore asked to give their opinion.

»In a polished style, Novak Djokovic

“I agree, the balls are heavy.

It is October, it is very cold and the clay is heavy and wet.

It is difficult to say if the ball is heavy by nature or if it is the fact of playing in these particular conditions ”

In sponsored tweet style, Petra Kvitova

“The new balls, there is no problem.

When they are new, they fly well.

Under these conditions, they will get a little bigger, which is why I changed the tension.

These are Wilson balls, it's perfect for me, since it's my brand.

It does not pose a problem "

In the Robocop style, Stan Wawrinka

“It's clear that slow conditions with fairly heavy balls in general is something that suits me quite well in my game because I can stay aggressive, I can play heavy anyway.

I have this power to do it.

We saw it in the years at Roland when it was a bit heavy and slow in general I played well.

Now, there are many more who will get to play well with it.

I think everyone will succeed in adapting and producing good tennis ”

In the relaxed style of the briefs, Dan Evans

“The conditions were not easy, it was cold.

Some of these balls that one used, I wouldn't even give them to a dog to chew on.

The point is, the conditions were pretty brutal.

The main problem was the bullets, I think.

Maybe they got it wrong with the bullets.

It's hard to get this bullet to go anywhere.

It is September, almost October, I think this ball is too heavy ”

If we remove Kvitova, who could almost be accused of insider trading, everyone agrees that this story of changing balls is not a real success with the displacement of the tournament in the fall.

Visually, it's even sometimes a little pathetic to see some players gasping like animals without being able to release a single winning shot per game, despite obvious goodwill.

So we decided to dig a little deeper into this story of a new contract between Wilson, world number 1 in tennis racket (Serena and Rodreur among others), and the French Grand Slam.

Not easy to advance the balls, today, on the outdoor courts of Roland-Garros

🌧 pic.twitter.com/zDb4wOuzc5

- julien reboullet (@ djub22) September 27, 2020

Babolat did not wish to continue

An article from our colleagues from

evokes a deal more beneficial to the Federation, in the order of 3 million euros.

And above all an operation aimed at getting closer to the huge Chinese market, since Wilson belonged to a Finnish conglomerate bought by the Chinese group Bidco Oy.

even predicts Stéphane Morel , the gentleman economic development of the FFT, in the same paper.

Rotten bullets to please the Chinese?

We already saw our scandalous title from here.

Except that after verification, it is difficult to confirm the trail of the plot from the East.

The Federation would indeed like to let us know that it was completely satisfied with the partnership with Babolat, and that it was the Lyon company that did not want to apply for the new call for tenders once the contract was completed in 2019: “Racket, ball and official strings of Roland-Garros since 2011, Babolat has decided not to renew his contract with the Parisian Grand Slam in 2019. Since 2020, Wilson inherits the status of Official Ball and Official Stringeur of Roland- Garros ”.

At Babolat, which continues to support the Wimbledon tournament, we confirm the information without further difficulty: “We did not want to extend a partnership that has never been at the center of the brand's strategy.

There was a desire to take a break, even if that does not mean that the story with Roland-Garros is over ”.

"It is the Federation which gives the specifications"

We come to the ball itself, because we should not let people think that the partners lay the criteria they want in exchange for a nice check to the French Tennis Federation.

"It is the organization of the tournament which provides specifications to the manufacturer which adapts, and not the other way around" breaths a regular of this kind of negotiations.

In 2011, for example, Babolat worked on a “more lively ball, to boost the game as the FFT wanted”.

The latter has visibly changed her minds for the next decade, although she could not guess that the tournament would one day have to be played in an autumn drizzle.

However, we must be honest to the end.

When a tournament changes balls, players ALWAYS react like old people who have been changed the schedule of the coinche game at the nursing home.

Out of curiosity, we went back to 2011 to see the in-house paper on the subject.

And it was worth it.

Imagine that at the time, everyone thought she was too hot.

“In recent weeks, we had become accustomed to Dunlops which offer more control,” explained Gilles Simon, for example.

“It takes less effect after two or three games,” added Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The fellow scribbler at the time even dared to argue that the choice of Babolat "was not really good news for a Rafael Nadal who likes to squirt the ball with his huge topspin forehand".

See you in 2030 to tell the opposite of what is said in this paper.

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• Novak Djokovic

• Coronavirus

• Roland Garros

• Rafael Nadal

• Tennis

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