Alexander Zverev slams Wilson balls at Rio Open: “Not good for my elbow”

Alexander Zverev spoke about the challenges posed by the conditions at the Rio Open and criticised the balls used in the ATP 500 tournament in South America. The world No. 2 is the top seed and will face Argentina’s Francisco Comesana in the quarter-finals on Friday.

This is the first time Zverev has travelled to South America to compete in the Golden Swing after the Australian Open. The German is the only top-10 player who chose to play on clay courts, which always requires an adjustment period, and the balls seem to be another issue for Sascha.

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In his latest press conference—after defeating Alexander Shevchenko in the round of 16 by 7-6(1), 7-6(6)—Zverev mentioned that he was struggling with the tournament’s balls.

“I’ve had some difficulties with the balls here, the Wilson balls tend to be flat, which isn’t good for my elbow,” the 3-time Grand Slam finalist said. “This is another issue that players have been talking about a lot over the last year, two years, a lot.”

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Zverev has previously dealt with elbow injuries. At the start of the season, during a press conference at the United Cup, he had already mentioned how playing conditions have led to more injuries.“It hurts quite a bit, I am working on it every day and, of course, the balls don’t help because they are dead. We have been talking about this for a long time, and it’s clear that 10, 15, or 20 years ago there weren’t as many players with elbow, wrist, and shoulder problems. I hope to improve day by day.”

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