"Wasn't the case 10-15 years ago" - Alexander Zverev attributes 'elbow and wrist injuries' to balls after Daniil Medvedev's remarks

Alexander Zverev recently touched upon the discourse regarding the type of balls employed by the ATP Tour of late. The German had relatively little to no trouble winning his first match at the year-end championships on Monday (November 11) but still felt it was physically difficult for the pros to play with the current balls.

Zverev didn't offer a single break point on his serve during his first round-robin match against Andrey Rublev at the 2024 ATP Finals to register a 6-4, 6-4 win in one hour and 13 minutes. Following his victory, the World No. 2 told the media in Turin that the Dunlop balls currently being used at the tour level are "fluffed up".

Alexander Zverev inferred with his comments that since it is tougher for the pros to end rallies quickly now, as the ball is slower due to low pressure, elbow injuries are rising in frequency. He then went as far as to insist that this wasn't the case 10-15 years ago.

"Before even a Dunlop ball, why I used to love it, why a Dunlop ball was so great, when they were new, they were very fast through the court, then they got bigger," Alexander Zverev said during his post-match press conference on Monday. "When they got bigger, they were still flying through the air because the air inside and the pressure inside didn't leave. The ball just fluffed up.

"What happens now with the tennis balls is that the air and the pressure leaves the tennis ball because of the material. The material doesn't keep it inside. 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. That was not the case about 10, 15 years ago."

With his comments, the 27-year-old echoed Daniil Medvedev's sentiments about how difficult practice sessions and matches have gotten since the slowing down of the balls.

"I have this every day, day in, day out, since like two, three years. Every practice is a struggle. Every match is a struggle," Daniil Medvedev said following his round-robin loss to Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals. "I was holding for long time. Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court. So no surprise at all about the match today."

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Alexander Zverev on Dunlop balls: "Because of COVID, the companies tried to cut costs and they're using a different rubber material now"

Alexander Zverev plays a forehand at ATP Finals 2024

During the press conference at the 2024 ATP Finals, Alexander Zverev claimed that the quality of the balls has gone down rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic. He also maintained that he much preferred the company Penn to Dunlop when it came to tennis balls.

"I always loved the Penn balls. 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," Zverev said. "They're using a different material for the tennis balls, which makes the tennis balls between 30% and 60% slower on average compared to what it was before COVID."

Zverev will take on sixth-seeded Casper Ruud in his next round-robin match at the ATP Finals on Thursday (November 14).