“It’s almost impossible to hit a winner” – Medvedev complains about tennis balls again

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev kickstarted his Asian hardcourt swing on a positive note by overcoming France’s Gael Monfils in straight sets on Friday (September 27).

Medvedev suffered two breaks but managed to convert five break points on Monfils’ serve to complete the match at 6-3, 6-4 in a little over 90 minutes.

In his post-match presser, however, Medvedev, the defending finalist, expressed his annoyance over the tennis balls being used by the Beijing tournament.

“It’s not easy to play here. The balls… Every week we go, I feel like they cannot be slower. But every week they’re at least as slow. They get super huge.

After two games it’s almost impossible to hit a winner unless you have like a very fast, fast hand like Sinner, Alcaraz, maybe like Grigor Dimitrov or something.”

Daniil Medvedev

Interestingly, it’s not the Russian’s first time complaining about the balls. He famously termed the spherule ‘grapefruit‘ during his Beijing campaign last year.

“We just ran, ran, ran, pushed the ball in the court. I was able to do it better. So happy to win,” the seed No 3 added.

This was Medvedev’s third win against Monfils in five action-filled matches. He assessed the latest match-up, saying:

“It’s not easy, because for sure you get very tired. He got tired, too. It’s who feels better on this day, who feels better mentally, physically. I feel like he got tired a bit more than I did, so I was able to continue doing it, and he kind of loss a little bit the rhythm. It could not be the same on the next match.”

The world No 5 then regretted losing an exchange to the Frenchman on Friday. This happened in the second set when he returned to secure a double break in the fourth game against the 38-year-old.

He gained an advantageous position in the rally but Monfils recovered to save the break point despite losing his footing at 30-40.

“But yeah, a lot of great rallies. One of them he won when I could do the double break. My volley was not so bad, but he managed to get there. Was pretty disappointed. Again, happy in the end I managed to win more of these rallies.”

Medvedev’s next competitor in Beijing is also a Frenchman in the form of Adrian Mannarino, the world No 44.