Iga Swiatek slams US Open for using different balls for women than for men

| by Balasz Virag

Iga Swiatek is one of the biggest favourites to win the 2022 US Open and also one of the players that likes to dictate the game.

And that's something she might struggle with at this year's US Open. The tournament chose to use different balls for women than it uses for men and a lot of players already criticized that decision. Now, also world number 1, Iga Swiatek said why using different balls doesn't make sense as she hopes that the decision will change.

"Honestly, I don’t like them. I have heard many players actually complaining, as well. Women players because we have different balls than men,” Swiatek said. "The thing is that they are lighter. They fly like crazy."

"We have really powerful games right now. It’s not like 10 years ago. Right now we play powerful, and we kind of can’t loosen up our hands with these balls. I know that many players complain, and many of them are top 10."

"We make more mistakes with these balls, for sure. So I don’t think that’s really nice to watch visually,” Swiatek said. "I don’t know why they are different from men’s ones. 15 years ago probably women had some elbow injuries because the balls were heavier and they changed them to women’s balls, but right now we are so physically well prepared that I don’t think it would happen."

"I feel, it’s really hard to control them, but everybody has the same conditions, so we are trying to deal with that. I don’t get why they are different, honestly."

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