By Richard Lucas

(May 24, 2011)
While racquet and string technology have advanced to the realm of utilizing space age materials, the tennis ball has remained relatively constant. The pressure-filled sphere made of rubber and adorned with felt is causing a stir amongst the top players, including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Tennis balls have undergone minor changes throughout history, but this year at Roland Garros, players are noticing a difference. Where Wimbledon has not changed from Slazenger balls since 1902, and the US Open has utilized Wilson for over 30 years, the clay-court major has changed three times in the past ten years.

As part of the recent partnership between Babolat and Roland Garros, the tournament ball is now made by Babolat who has broken in, making tennis balls beginning in 2001. There has been some debate from the top players as to the difference between the new Babolat ball and the previous Dunlop.

Federer acted as spokeman for many on the ATP when he expressed the players' displeasure with the new ball, which they claim plays extremely fast and feels much harder. Some commented that the ball is designed to fly faster, farther, and be more receptive to topspin, which would make it ideal for one Rafael Nadal, who just happens to play with Babolat racquets.

Other players have not seen the difference in spin generation, but there is a definite speed difference. Djokovic has stated that when the balls are fresh, they play extremely fast and are more difficult to control.

Testing performed by the French Tennis Federation confirmed that there were no differences in the performance characteristics between the Babolat and Dunlop balls.

Yet Dunlop said that's not possible, because the Babolat tennis balls are not made in the same way as their balls.

"Dunlop have manufactured tennis balls for over 100 years, including the past 40 in the same facility to exacting standards, using core compound formulae and manufacturing processes which are highly confidential and unique to Dunlop," Dunlop Sport said in a press release.

The largest complaint with the Babolat ball has less to do with the product itself, but with the change from the remainder of the clay court season, which had unanimously adopted the Dunlop ball previously used at Roland Garros.

A traditional workman, David Ferrer, has said that while the ball is faster, it is nothing that cannot be adjusted to. Each additional component will affect the overall playability, and the International Tennis Federation stated that their job was to establish that a ball looks and plays as it should, not to determine the exact composition.