‘I’m Practicing With Men’s Ones’ – Iga Swiatek Voices the Complains of WTA Players for US Open Series

Iga Swiatek has been the player to beat on the WTA Tour this year. The Polish star is enjoying one of the most successful seasons of her tennis career. Further, Swiatek has already won six titles in 2022, including the French Open.

She is currently in Cincinnati to participate in the Western and Southern Open. The world number one entered the pre-quarterfinals with a resounding win over the local favorite, Sloane Stephens.

Iga Swiatek slams the tennis balls used at the US Open Series

During the post-match press conference after her win over Stephens, Swiatek complained about the balls used for women’s matches at the US Open Series. She said, “Oh, my God. Well, honestly, I don’t like them. Well, I have heard many players actually complaining, as well. Woman players, because we have different balls than men. I know it sounds weird (smiling).”

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Further, she added, “Well, but basically the thing is that they are lighter. They fly like crazy. You know, we have really powerful games right now. It’s not like 10 years ago except Serena, girls, I think they played slower, right? Right now we play powerful, and we kind of can’t loosen up our hands with these balls. I know that there are many players who complain, and many of them are top 10.” 

Swiatek on the disadvantages of the ‘lighter’ tennis ball

Talking about the disadvantages of using a lighter tennis ball, Swiatek went on to say, “We make more mistakes, for sure. So I don’t think if that’s like really nice to watch visually. I don’t know why they are different than men’s ones. I don’t know, like 15 years ago probably women had some elbow injuries because the balls were heavier and they changed them to women’s balls, but right now we are so physically well prepared that I don’t think it would happen.” 

Moreover, she went on to add, “Plus we can’t get those balls in Europe, or actually, when we buy them at store, they are totally different than the tournament balls, so when I’m practicing with US Open balls at home, I’m practicing with men’s ones. Yeah, I think even this situation is pretty hard in terms of injuries, because we are stringing our racquets more and more tight, and this is really confusing for our arms and hands and for our touch.” 

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Concluding her remarks, she said, “Yeah, I’m not sure, but I don’t know if probably you have talked about it with Ash when she was playing, but she didn’t like these balls either. I feel, it’s really hard to control them, but everybody has same conditions, so we are trying to deal with that. I don’t get why they are different, honestly.”

After her win over Stephens, Iga Swiatek will take on Madison Keys in the pre-quarterfinals. Can the top seed win the Western and Southern Open title? Let us know your views in the comments below.