Taylor Fritz was vocal about his dislike for the tennis balls used on tour last season.
During the 2025 Canadian Open, Fritz issued the following complaint about the balls used at the event.
“I feel like all week it’s kind of been flying, tough to control, easy to miss the ball,” said Fritz.
“It’s not just me, just watching any of the other matches, I can see people are hitting the ball a lot softer than they normally do, they’re playing a lot safer, people are making more mistakes.”
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He had similar issues at several tournaments throughout the year.
Other players have agreed with Fritz, and some also complained about the court surfaces used on the ATP Tour.
During his latest press conference at the 2026 United Cup, Fritz shared whether he thinks the balls or the courts are the bigger problem.
Taylor Fritz says the tennis balls are a bigger problem than the courts
“I think it’s more so the balls than the courts, to be honest,” he said.
“I’ll try not to make this a 20-minute answer. Personally, I’ve talked to a lot of other players about this. I personally think there were places where they slowed down the courts. Shanghai was a joke with how much they slowed it down. I guess Paris was slower.
“But to me, honestly, and most players that I’ve talked to agree with me on this, I don’t think they’ve slowed down the courts that much over the years. I just think the balls are so much slower.”
Fritz explained what he doesn’t like about the tennis balls used on tour.
“They are so much softer, so they just lose so much speed when they hit the court,” he said.
“Especially, I feel like the quality has gone down. They get so big so much quicker, I feel. Yeah, I don’t think there should be situations like, I guess, today. Even today, it’s not a fast court, but the balls get big.
“I’m serving as hard as I can, hitting my spot, and then hitting the next five balls as hard as I possibly can, corner to corner, and my opponent is just chipping and giving me nothing to work with, and you can’t put the ball away.
“There should be variance in the speeds, but at a certain point, there has to be reward when you’re being aggressive and taking risks.”
Fritz’s United Cup teammates, Christian Harrison and Coco Gauff, were then asked for their thoughts.
“I agree with Taylor [Fritz]. I think it’s the balls other than the court speeds. Everyone always talks about it,” said Harrison.
“Yeah,” added Gauff.
Team USA may not be a fan of the balls in use at the United Cup, but that hasn’t stopped them from reaching the quarterfinals.
Team USA beat Spain to advance at the United Cup
The Americans haven’t looked quite as dominant as they were 12 months ago, but are safely through to the last eight Down Under.
Group A standings
| Position | Team | Ties W-L | Matches W-L | Sets W-L | Games W-L |
| 1 | USA | 2-0 | 4-2 | 9-5 (64%) | 77-66 (54%) |
| 2 | Argentina | 1-1 | 4-2 | 8-6 (57%) | 66-66 (50%) |
| 3 | Spain | 0-2 | 1-5 | 4-11 (27%) | 69-80 (46%) |
Gauff and Fritz both lost matches in the group stage, but advanced to the quarterfinals anyway.
Which country do you think will win the United Cup?
But who will they play in their quarterfinal matchup?
Finishing top of Group A, Team USA will play the best runner-up from Perth.
Argentina, Great Britain, and Greece currently sit second in the Perth groups, although that could yet change.
Team USA could meet any of the following five teams in the quarterfinals.
Team USA’s potential QF opponents
- Argentina
- Italy
- France
- Great Britain
- Greece
Only time will tell who they will play, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action when the Americans contest their quarterfinal match on Wednesday, January 7.
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