Roger Federer: “Slazenger Balls Are Very Heavy”

Roger Federer shrugged off a slow start to US Open 2019 as he came back from a set down for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Sumit Nagal on Monday.

In the post-match interview, Roger Federer explained that he expected more lively balls at the US Open 2019 as he observed during his first-round match that it was easy to return the balls.

Talking about the balls, Roger Federer said, “You always compare them to the ball you just played with recently. I wish the balls we’re a bit more lively overall on the tour.”

Earlier, there were talks about the surface at the Wimbledon Championships 2019 playing slow. However, Rafael Nadal had suggested that the heavier ball is to be blamed for the slower game at the Wimbledon and not the playing surface.

Now, Roger Federer also admitted that the balls become heavier during play on the grass at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. He also suggested that the balls change every time at the French Open.

The Swiss said, “Slazenger balls are very heavy at Wimbledon. Always have been. At the French I’ve seen changes throughout the last years, there are different ball manufacturers.”

Roger Federer saw a surprise Cincinnati Masters 2019 defeat to Andrey Rublev in the round of 16, earlier this month. The 20-time Grand Slam champion explained that the ball was not playing well during the Western and Southern Open 2019.

Talking about the ball conditions in Cincinnati, Federer said, “I thought the Cincinnati ball was extremely flat, wasn’t bouncing very much. It was hard to, like, get anything going on the ball. Then naturally because that happens, you start playing sort of ping-pong.”

The 38-year-old further continued, “There’s a lot of spin involved, but imagine bad ping-pong players, they just bump it back and forth to one another. It’s just hard to get really good sort of, I don’t know, banana balls going and all that stuff. It’s just tough.”

However, the world No.3 was expecting a different ball from that off in Cincinnati but the result was not satisfying for the Swiss Maestro as he expected a lively ball at the Flushing Meadows.

“Here I was expecting more of a lively ball,” Federer said. “But I don’t think it’s crazy. The kicker isn’t doing that much, to be honest. He was a kicker, he wasn’t getting up super high. I was kicking on my second, he was just hitting it back. Shows you it’s pretty easy to return. I think it’s going to get faster over the course of the tournament.”

He concluded, “That’s where I think the ball comes into play, it becomes important. Altitude, all that stuff. Here we’re basically at sea level.”

Roger Federer, who is bidding for his first US Open title since 2008 will face Damir Dzumhur in the second round at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the morning session on Wednesday.