New balls, please? No, but finally US Open uses the same balls for men and women

Equality between men and women is being celebrated at this year’s US Open, 50 years on from the establishment of the WTA and the groundbreaking move by the US Open to pay the men and women equal prize money.

It took until 2007 for all four Grand Slams to catch up, with Wimbledon being the last, and prize money is still not equal on the men’s and women’s Tours for all shared events. But this year’s US Open is taking equality a step further, with the men and women using the same tennis balls for the first time.

Considering that every tennis club in the world does not discriminate between the kind of balls used by men and women, in many ways, it’s odd it has taken so long to get to this point.

This year’s event will see all players using the Wilson Extra Duty balls, used by the men for years. Interestingly, US college tennis has used the same balls, for men and women, for many years.

Let’s get this Extra Duty party started. 🎾

This year the @WTA is switching from @WilsonTennis Regular Duty to Extra Duty balls, which means all @usopen players will use the same ball for the first time since the early 1980s.

For those wondering what that means, a thread: pic.twitter.com/0jkHVxQ91Y

— Blair Henley (@BlairHenley) August 27, 2023

But like so many things at Grand Slam level, it took a number of players complaining about the balls at last year’s event – when they thought they were flying too much and too hard to control – for anything to happen.

“Every year the WTA informs us of what Wilson US Open ball they would like their athletes to play with,” US Open chief Stacey Allaster said on the eve of the event. “We have been unwavering, that’s been their decision.

“Right now this is a trial. The WTA is polling the players. They’ve been playing with the ball in Canada and Cincinnati. We’ll expect the WTA to tell us at the end of the 2023 US Open if they’d like to continue with the Wilson Extra Duty or they prefer to go back to the regular felt balls. 100 percent in the athletes’ decision. We’re happy to do whatever the athletes want as it relates to the ball. So is our long-time, 45-year partner Wilson.”

Swiatek: This ball is more durable

The change seems to have been met with approval from the players.

“For sure I feel like the ball here and Montreal, Cincinnati, when I played matches, it makes more sense to play with it because the previous one was made for clay, this one is more durable,” world No 1 Iga Swiatek said. “It doesn’t, like, fly without control in the air. I don’t know what other players are saying, but that’s my thought.”

Some players, of course, like a ball that flies faster through the air. The likes of Petra Kvitova, for example, who enjoys seeing the ball blast off her racquet.

Britain’s Lily Miyazaki, who has qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw after three good wins in qualifying, said the extra duty balls suited her game.

“They’re a bit heavier now, which I guess it suits some players,” she said. “For me it’s worked out, so yeah, I’m happy.

“I think to be honest, throughout the year, we play with loads of different types of balls and there are other brands of tennis balls that are heavier than these ones. With these ones, I haven’t had any issues with them.”

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