Infuriated Taylor Fritz blasts 'ridiculous' Dunlop balls ahead of Indian Wells

This year's tournament will see a change in the balls used as Dunlop take over from Penn but in the weeks leading up to it, players have voiced their concern over what they feel is an inferior product.

Fritz is the latest player to lend his voice to the criticism, suggesting that the "slow" Dunlop balls wear down too quickly and went as far as stating the quality of them is lacking.

"The next tournament is Indian Wells and, honestly, it's going to be very interesting," he said. "This year they're changing the ball and we'll be playing with the Dunlop, which is the one we use most on the tour.

"The thing is, the Dunlop, in general, is slow. When it wears down, it gets even slower, and lately it's been wearing down very quickly. I really think the quality of the balls has dropped a lot."

Fritz's solution to the problem was reducing the number of games between ball changes, suggesting the current amount was "too many.

"On fast courts, the Dunlop works very well, but on slow courts it's awful. It wasn't such a big problem before, so I think the frequency of ball changes should also be changed. Seven or nine games is too many. The other day, at 3-3 in the first set, I was looking at the ball and thinking, "How are we playing professional tennis with this?' It's ridiculous."

Fritz is not the only player to speak out ahead of the American tournament and the often outspoken Daniil Medvedev suggested it was impossible to play with the Dunlop balls.

"The problem is when you touch it with the racket, it does not react the same way on your shots, so how do you want us to play tennis?" he said.

World No.6 Alex de Minaur agreed with Medvedev and said it was "difficult to control" them, even in practice.

"I have struggled a lot in practice," the Australian said.

"I have actually been quite frustrated with the balls in practice, which is not like me. I do get what Daniil says about the balls.

"They are definitely not my favourite. I don't think they are anyone's favourite balls. They are very difficult to control."

Arthur Fils, meanwhile, said: "They are terrible. Really terrible. The ball is very bad. It is unbelievable."

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