In comments made during an interview with Sportal, the 24-time Grand Slam legend has claimed the constant changing of tennis balls in different tournaments is a huge threat to players.
World No 3 Daniil Medvedev was highly critical of the Head tennis ball being used in tournaments in China, with several players suggesting the change of balls of each even is contributing to shoulder and wrist injuries.
Now Djokovic has joined the debate, as he believes the game’s decision makers need to protect the players’ well-being with the choice of balls.
“There is certainly a connection between frequent injuries of the wrist, elbow, and shoulder with ball changes,” claimed Djokovic.
“I am absolutely in favour of choosing one ball with which we will play all ATP tournaments. It is different & more difficult with the Grand Slams because each of the biggest tournaments we play, negotiates separately which sponsor they will have for the balls, but this also happens on the ATP tour.
“Every tournament has the right to negotiate. However, we simply have to find a way to unify, so that in each category on the ATP tour we have one ball to play with, depending on the surface. Sometimes that change of balls happens three times in three weeks depending on where we play, & it affects the health of the players & the joints themselves.
“In that sense, I support the players complaining & asking the ATP to find a way to resolve it. They have to find a solution. I didn’t see that the ATP issued any statement regarding the player’s complaints, & these are things that are incomprehensible to me.
“When you have tennis players from the top who are trying to reach you in public & say ‘Hey, let’s talk about that topic,’ you have to make a statement, address them and say ‘Okay, we understand, let’s sit at the table, let’s talk.’
“I don’t understand why there is silence from their side. I hope they will realize that there simply must be direct communication.
“Likewise, it should be publicly announced that they have received this information re working on it, in the sense that they will see how they can find a solution that is acceptable. Silence will not change anything.
“I didn’t see that the ATP issued any statement regarding the player’s complaints, and these are things that are incomprehensible to me. When you have tennis players from the top who are trying to reach you in public and say: “Hey, let’s talk about that topic!”, you have to make a statement, address them, say: “Okay, we understand, let’s sit at the table, let’s talk!”
“Let’s see if there is some process where questions are asked to the players and responses are sought from a larger group of players, from a hundred players, to see what everyone thinks, to see the consensus. There must be some activation, I don’t understand why there is silence from their side.”
When a player of Djokovic’s stature makes sure high profile comments, the tennis world is bound to sit up and take notice.
Let’s see if the tennis tournaments will now listen to the concerns of the players put their obsession with signing lucrative deals with tennis ball companies to one sid in favour of savouring player welfare.
