American tennis star Taylor Fritz recently expressed his concerns about the quality of tennis balls and how they impact his game, later getting the support of his United Cup teammate and World No. 4 Coco Gauff. Meanwhile, Team USA has continued its dominance at the ongoing mixed-team event, most recently dispatching Spain to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
Taylor Fritz Gets Coco Gauff’s Support While Getting Honest on the Ball Quality During United Cup Campaign
Fritz has not held back when raising concerns about certain aspects of the tour, particularly equipment-related issues. The ATP World No. 6 had done so at the 2025 Canadian Open, where he openly criticized the tennis balls used throughout the tournament, noting that players struggled to control the ball and were therefore forced to play more conservatively.
The Americans’ concerns did not end there, as similar issues persisted in the tournaments that followed. With complaints over increasingly slower court surfaces also growing louder, Fritz was asked during the United Cup whether courts or tennis balls pose the bigger problem.
Fritz said he’s discussed the issue with other players and believes courts have been excessively slowed down at some places, calling those in Shanghai “a joke” and noting the conditions in Paris were also slower. The American, however, also believes that the tennis balls have become much slower, something he has discussed with other players.
“But to me, honestly, and most players that I’ve talked to agree with me on this, I don’t think they’ve slowed down the courts that much over the years. I just think the balls are so much slower,” he said during his post-match press conference at the United Cup.
Fritz explained that tennis balls have become softer, losing speed when they hit the court and deteriorating in quality more quickly, causing them to swell rapidly, even on moderately paced courts.
“There’s so much just softer, so they just lose so much speed when they hit the court. Especially I feel like the quality has gone down. They get so big so much quicker, I feel. Yeah, I don’t think there should be situations like, I guess, today. Even today, it’s not a fast court, but the balls get big,” he said.
Fritz seemed to express frustration at serving and hitting aggressively, only for opponents to respond with soft, defensive shots, leaving him unable to finish points or dictate play.
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“I’m serving as hard as I can, hitting my spot, and then hitting the next five balls as hard as I possibly can corner to corner, and my opponent is just chipping and giving me nothing to work with, and you can’t put the ball away,” he added.
Fritz’s concerns were later echoed by teammate Christian Harrison, who noted that the slower balls have raised issues alongside the courts, and many players agree with him. Gauff subsequently responded, “Yeah.”
Team USA has been dominant at the United Cup, keeping their title defense hopes alive by reaching the quarterfinals after topping their group with a win over Spain. The tie began with Gauff suffering a shock three-set loss to World No. 42 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, but Fritz held his nerve and tied the score with a victory over Jaume Munar 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(6) in three hours and 14 minutes.
Gauff found redemption in the mixed doubles, teaming up with Christian Harrison to secure a 7-6(5), 6-0 victory over Inigo Cervantes and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers.
