Carlos Alcaraz responds to Casper Ruud's recent comments about unnecessary drama

Tennis has a growing problem with the use of different brands of balls. The weight for each brand can differ slightly, and some players believe this can cause more wear and tear on joints and long-term injuries. Logically, this makes sense as adjusting to slightly different weight while continuously doing the same motion can cause issues.

Recently, top-ten-ranked player Casper Ruud said he was tired of hearing players complain about an issue they have no control over. This is especially true once an event has begun and players take their complaints during a match to an umpire. There is little the umpire or tournament officials can do at this point. Ruud feels as if players should just shut up and play.

At the Paris Masters, second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz did not disagree with Ruud's comments directly but does feel that tennis can do better. Not only with which balls are used but how fast a court is. The Spaniard thinks the courts at the Paris Masters are "too fast," and he thinks slower courts would make for better viewing for fans because the rallies would be longer.

Carlos Alcaraz responds to Casper Ruud's comments about players needing to be quiet and play

The issue with the balls and the courts is that every player has to play with the same conditions. If the next tournament changes ball brands and court speed then all players have to adjust. Tennis also cannot afford to look as if it is favoring one player over another. There is already a potential issue with Jannik Sinner's failed drug test but his lack of suspension while other players have been suspended immediately under the same circumstances.

Alcaraz said on Tennis TV at the Paris Masters, "(The court is) really fast for me. Honestly, it depends on the player, you know there are some players who like this speed. But I think it should be a little bit slower, just for the tournament, the people - there’s gonna be more rallies, more tennis to watch. But yeah, we are tennis players, every week is different, you know, different conditions, different courts, different balls. We have to get used to it, but at some point, it should be different, it should be better. But you know, we can’t do nothing about it."

Of course, a simple fix to the ball brand problem is if the ATP or WTA tours would have an official sponsor for the balls that are used. This means that one company shells out a lot of money to be said sponsor, but they could recoup their losses in marketing. There is likely too much money spent by different brands overall to mean there would ever be only one brand of ball, however.

In other words, players likely are wasting their breath by complaining about balls. Fans should get used to seeing some tournaments with fast courts. Let's just hope the quality of tennis is high either way.

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