New balls please.
John Millman has joined Bernard Tomic in criticising the Dunlop tennis balls to be used at the Australian Open after Tennis Australia had them take over as ball supplier from Wilson this summer on a five-year deal.
“(It was) really tough to generate (pace) with it cold out there, the balls are pretty dead,” said Millman after his tight Sydney International quarter-final loss to Gilles Simon which finished well after 1am on Friday following a wet night.
“The balls are really s**t when it gets like that, I figured out, so I’ve got to factor that in for next week in Melbourne, just remember how bad the balls are in cold conditions like that.
“Obviously it’s a new ball. It made it tough at the end there. But at the end of the day it was the same conditions … and Gilles was better.”
Tomic spoke out against the balls after using them at the Kooyong exhibition, saying “I don’t feel it is that good of a ball. I think they’re pretty cheap from what I’ve heard.”
Others including fellow Australian star Ashleigh Barty have no problem with the balls.
“I like them,” Barty said at the Sydney International this week.
“They are not much different from the previous Wilson ball and I think they are a very fair ball.”
AAP
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