After advancing to his first quarterfinal since winning Roland Garros in June, Rafael Nadal had some choice words for the ATP World Tour in Beijing. The World No. 2, who's been open with criticizing some of the tour's practices over the years, took time out of his press conference to criticize the balls used at the China Open.

''The ball is so bad here,'' Nadal said after defeating German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk. ''If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. Is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball.

''It's just that we're competing at the top level of our sport, tennis, and the ball is an important thing.''

The balls are manufactured by Head, which is a sponsor of the ATP World Tour. Each tournament is allowed to choose the balls used, and Nadal also criticized this practice.

''This week we are playing with one ball. Next week we are playing with a different ball,'' he said. ''That's dangerous for the shoulder, dangerous for the elbow.''

This is not the first time that Nadal has voiced displeasure with this particular ball, having also taken exception to it last year in Sao Paulo. 

"It’s the fault of the ATP for allowing play with a (tennis) ball of poor quality. The ATP does not have the capacity or the infrastructure to be able to analyze the conditions before the tournament begins.”

Photo: Getty