© Getty Images Sport – Giuseppe Bellini
Vasek Pospisil has publicly called out tennis balls used on the ATP Tour, shockingly claiming that “50 percent of players seem to have an injury related to the constant ball changes.” Earlier this year, players started publicly suspecting that the constant ball changes were causing increased wrist, elbow, and shoulder injuries.
Then during this year’s Asian swing, numerous ATP and WTA players publicly spoke out against the constant ball changes, with many of them claiming that stuff is to blame for an increased number of injuries in men’s and women’s tennis.
“First of all, nobody wants to see a 60-ball rally every point. They like variety. So that failed. The next thing is, one out of two players, 50% of players seem to have wrist, elbow, shoulder issues in the locker room. Then recently people started to tweet about it.
Now there is a bit of talk, and they’re, Oh, yeah, we are addressing it, addressing it. Players don’t talk about it openly. They are in the locker room. Everyone has got — he has wrist pain. I mean, how many wrist surgeries have we seen this year? Guy popped his elbow — I mean, yeah, I can name several players,” Pospisil said.
Pospisil: Players complain, nothing happens
Pospisil, who was a member of the ATP Player Council until 2020, left his previous position to form the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) with Novak Djokovic. Whenever the PTPA feels they need to address something or support a player’s complaint, they do so.
Pospisil believes it is a good thing that the PTPA’s presence is giving a bigger voice to players and putting more pressure on the ATP. But Pospisil acknowledges the real changes have yet to happen. “I mean, it’s been a big problem, and I feel quite a bit of resentment, honestly…
Players can complain, complain, complain. At the end of the day they don’t really have that much say in this sport, unfortunately. But it’s changing. It’s changing quickly. I think when it does, this sport will be a lot better,” Pospisil said.
