Despite his success in the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters this Tuesday against Francisco Comesana (6-7 [2]6-3, 6-3), Félix Roger-Aliassime did not take offense at the quality of the balls provided by the tournament now installed in La Défense.
“The balls suck, they don’t bounce straight!” When you try to put the ball in the court, it’s fine, but as soon as you try to be precise on the serve or to hit,” the Canadian confided in the mixed zone, reports L’Équipe.
“The ball is not really round”
“This needs to change. We have to find a solution, we’ve been talking about it since Covid, but each time, there is no solution, we have to find one for things to get better,” added the 25-year-old, now 10th in the ATP rankings, while indicating that he would not have broached the subject in the event of a defeat this Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime clarified his criticisms of the balls used during the tournament, Head Tour XT. “If you look at the ball you play in tennis, there is always a white seam. There, the seam is not uniform, so sometimes it is wider, sometimes it is thinner, sometimes there is a hollow. The ball is not really round. It’s a real problem,” he concluded.
The last semi-finalist of the US Open will face the Frenchman Alexandre Müller on Wednesday in the second round, who defeated Brandon Nakashima on Monday (6-2, 7-5).