{"id":1799264,"date":"2026-02-28T19:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1799264"},"modified":"2026-02-28T19:30:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:30:02","slug":"taylor-fritz-makes-indian-wells-rule-change-request-in-ridiculous-ball-quality-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1799264","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Fritz makes Indian Wells rule change request in &#8216;ridiculous&#8217; ball quality warning"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Taylor Fritz makes Indian Wells rule change request in \u2018ridiculous\u2019 ball quality warning<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/sam-cooper\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Sam Cooper                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"28 Feb 2026 7:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"28 Feb 2026 7:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1772307002\"><br \/>\n                            28 Feb 2026 7:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/taylor-fritz-makes-indian-wells-rule-change-request-in-ridiculous-ball-quality-warning\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a 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class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Ftaylor-fritz-makes-indian-wells-rule-change-request-in-ridiculous-ball-quality-warning\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Taylor Fritz makes Indian Wells rule change request in \u2018ridiculous\u2019 ball quality warning\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/taylor-fritz-ball-quality-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Taylor Fritz\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                A number of players have complained about the balls which will be used at Indian Wells.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Taylor Fritz has criticised Dunlop-produced balls and suggested the quality has \u201cdropped a lot\u201d ahead of the first Masters 1000 tournament of the year, Indian Wells.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Fritz is the latest player to lend his voice to the criticism, suggesting that the \u201cslow\u201d Dunlop balls wear down too quickly and went as far as stating the quality of them is lacking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe next tournament is Indian Wells and, honestly, it\u2019s going to be very interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cThis year they\u2019re changing the ball and we\u2019ll be playing with the Dunlop, which is the one we use most on the tour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing is, the Dunlop, in general, is slow. When it wears down, it gets even slower, and lately it\u2019s been wearing down very quickly. I really think the quality of the balls has dropped a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fritz\u2019s solution to the problem was reducing the number of games between ball changes, suggesting the current amount was \u201ctoo many.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE NEWS ON T365<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/jannik-sinner-crisis-former-british-no-1\"><strong>Jannik Sinner \u2018crisis\u2019 put into perspective by former British No 1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/iga-swiatek-backed-big-run-indian-wells-star-searches-for-top-form-2026\"><strong>Iga Swiatek backed for \u2018big run\u2019 in Indian Wells as star searches for top form in 2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn fast courts, the Dunlop works very well, but on slow courts it\u2019s awful. It wasn\u2019t 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, \u2018How are we playing professional tennis with this?\u2019 It\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>World No.6 Alex de Minaur agreed with Medvedev and said it was \u201cdifficult to control\u201d them, even in practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have struggled a lot in practice,\u201d the Australian said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have actually been quite frustrated with the balls in practice, which is not like me. I do get what Daniil says about the balls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are definitely not my favourite. I don\u2019t think they are anyone\u2019s favourite balls. They are very difficult to control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur Fils meanwhile said: \u201cThey are terrible. Really terrible. The ball is very bad. It is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\">preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taylor Fritz makes Indian Wells rule change request in \u2018ridiculous\u2019 ball quality warning Sam Cooper 28 Feb 2026 7:30 PM A number of players have complained about the balls which will be used at Indian Wells. Taylor Fritz has criticised Dunlop-produced balls and suggested the quality has \u201cdropped a lot\u201d ahead of the first Masters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1799264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1799264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1799264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1799264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1799264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}