Taylor Fritz complained about the balls and heavy conditions after winning his opening match at Roland Garros.
The American began his campaign in Paris looking to bounce back after losing his first match at the Geneva Open.
He was made to work on court nine as he rallied from a set down to clinch victory over the Argentine in four sets.
Though pleased to get through, the 26-year-old struggled to adjust to the balls being used at the clay court major this year.
What did Taylor Fritz not like about the balls and conditions at Roland Garros?
Roland Garros has yet to see the best of the French weather three days into the tournament. Rain has interrupted play and the conditions have been rather cloudy and chilly.
This has contributed to the conditions that Fritz played in on Tuesday, and the balls did not help matters for the ninth seed.
“It’s not even like the conditions today, it was slow, but even when the sun is out here, it is very slow,”Fritz told reporters.
“These balls are very, very heavy and soft as well so when they hit the court they don’t really move, they just slow down a lot.
“It’s slow regardless of the conditions and I feel like it’s been a big change, all the stuff that has been working with me the whole clay court season, playing with different balls isn’t really working.
“I have been loving playing my forehand really high and heavy and now I can’t really do that with these balls, it just sits up for people to attack.”
How did Taylor Fritz to the heavy balls and conditions at Roland Garros
After losing the first set, Fritz knew he had to make some adjustments to avoid an embarrassing opening round defeat similar to what he experienced at the 2022 US Open.
He did so emphatically, as he lost just four more games for the rest of the match to complete a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win and book a spot in round two against Dušan Lajović.
Commencing on what he changed in his game, Fritz said: “The adjustments I made today were definitely that I was trying to step in and trying to flatten the ball way more, especially off my forehand, and I’ve barely flattened more forehand in a month and a half.
“I have just been playing everything skinny and heavy, it has been working great, but in these conditions and these balls, if you spin the ball and don’t have one of the heaviest spin rates on tour, it doesn’t actually go anywhere.
“So you just have to stand closer and hit through more. I am having to play it a bit less like a play court and a bit more like a hard court.”
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