Daniil Medvedev has never held back on the ATP Tour, regularly confronting umpires and venting his frustrations in the heat of battle. True to form, the outspoken Russian, who won the tournament back in 2023, turned the spotlight on the equipment after his 6-7, 6-3, 3-6 first-round loss to Ugo Humbert, summoning the tournament supervisor over a contentious ball issue.

During the match against Humbert, Medvedev took issue with the type of tennis ball being used at the Rotterdam Open. He called the tournament supervisor onto the court to discuss the balls.

Daniil Medvedev said, “Head balls, are they round? Is it round? Are you sure, because I see it not round, I see it with a bit of, how you say it, narrow. I don’t know how you call it.”

He later added: “It’s a bit of… let’s see, scars. So it’s not super round. Isn’t it strange? So I think maybe we should consider not playing with HEAD balls. HEAD Tour XT balls is not round so we should not be playing with it, nobody should be buying it.”

Medvedev also said, “We should not be promoting a tennis ball that is not round.”

The Russian and the tournament supervisor had a back-and-forth discussion. Medvedev repeatedly called the situation “strange.”

He concluded: “The problem is you touch it with the racket, it doesn’t react the same way on your shots. So how do you want us to play tennis?”

Even at 4-2 down in the third set at 40-40, Daniil Medvedev kicked the electronic billboard. He then tossed the balls away after the discussion ended.

A representative for Head did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Later in the match, Medvedev said: “These balls are horrible. Please delete these f—ing balls from this f—ing life.”

He added: “The balls are made for … People who love to please … People who love to please with a little bit of saliva.”

Medvedev, a former world No. 1 and 2021 U.S. Open champion, has long been outspoken about tennis balls. At the 2024 Shanghai Masters, he said the balls could only be hit by players with “crazy power” like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Even at that year’s ATP Tour Finals, he said, “Every practice is a struggle. Every match is a struggle. I was holding [serve] for long time. Now I feel zero pleasure of being on the court.”

At this year’s Australian Open, however, the Russian said in a news conference that tennis balls are “getting better.”

The ATP is moving toward standardizing the balls used on the tour. Previously, tournaments had different balls due to sponsorships. All balls must meet weight and size rules, with diameters between 6.54 and 6.86 centimeters.

In June last year, the ATP said it had made “significant progress in delivering greater ball consistency across the Tour.” It added: “This is the first season in which the ATP is centralizing the ball-supplier selection process, in collaboration with tournaments, moving away from the previous model where tournaments independently selected their own suppliers.”

And surprisingly, Medvedev is not the only player criticizing tour balls. Several other players have recently shared similar frustrations with the balls used in matches.

Taylor Fritz criticized the quality of tennis balls on Tour

In January, during a United Cup press conference, Taylor Fritz complained about the quality of tennis balls on the Tour. 

“I’ve talked with other players about this. Even if they’ve slowed down the surface in Shanghai or Paris, the most important effect comes from the fact that the balls have lost a huge amount of quality,” Fritz added.

He continued: “They wear out very quickly, become big, and it’s very difficult to produce aggressive and effective tennis. There should be more variety regarding the speed of the balls, so that in certain tournaments, you would be rewarded for your aggressiveness.”

Fritz explained further: “Now, I can hit the ball as hard as possible five times, my opponent will be on it and return it into the court. We need tennis to reward aggressive players.”

At the Italian Open last year, Alexander Zverev also spoke out about the balls. During his clash against Lorenzo Musetti, frustration boiled over.

In the second set, Zverev threw a ball at tournament officials while criticizing the balls’ quality. 

He said, “Look at it. It’s impossible to play tennis with this s***. If this is entertaining tennis, I don’t know what the f*** we’re doing. I’m tired of this. We’re playing with f** kids’ balls nowadays. No wonder the guy is f** six feet behind the baseline.”

Even Richard Krajicek, the 1993 Wimbledon Men’s Singles champion and Rotterdam Open tournament director, also commented on ball quality.

He said the balls have changed dramatically compared to when he played professionally. “The other thing I’d add to that is conditions have changed dramatically in tennis,” Krajicek said on the Off Court with Greg podcast.

“You look at the balls now, they’re all pretty slow and fluffy. The courts are medium to slow. There’s not many quick courts out there these days. So, it doesn’t really allow for the serve and volley,” he explained.

With Daniil Medvedev now raising his voice about balls at the Dutch tournament, the question remains: will players’ frustrations be heard at the organizational level?