Alexander Zverev has yet again blamed the ATP tour’s changing tennis balls for his recent injury. The German is competing at the 2025 United Cup while tending to an elbow issue.
Zverev kicked off his campaign by representing the defending champions, Germany, in their tie against Brazil on Sunday, December 29. Despite his 6-4, 6-4 win against Thiago Monteiro, World No. 2 wasn’t completely satisfied with his form and revealed that he’s been nursing an elbow issue ever since the 2024 ATP Finals.
“I didn’t serve since Turin. I had a little bit of an elbow issue. I think my speeds still need to go up a little bit,” he said in his post-match press conference.
After his second win against China’s Zhang Zhizhen (2-6, 6-0, 6-2) on Monday, Alexander Zverev was quizzed about his injury. The player conveyed that his elbow was “quite sore” and indicated that the balls provided by the ATP tour were only adding to the injury.
“It’s quite sore. I’m working on it every day. It’s just what it is. I think the balls are not helping,” he said in his press conference. “They’re dead. We’ve been having this discussion for I don’t know how long.”
“A lot of players nowadays have elbow issues, wrist issues, because that kind of subject, which wasn’t the case maybe 15, 20 years ago, or 10 years ago when I started,” Zverev added. “I’m working on it. Hopefully it’s getting better every day.”
This is not the first time that Alexander Zverev has touched on the subject. Alongside the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Stan Wawrinka, the German, too, has criticized the changing quality of tennis balls.
At the ATP Finals, he claimed that the balls employed by the ATP tour had declined in quality since COVID-19, after companies shifted to “different material” in an effort to “cut costs.”
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