By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 17, 2023
Women will play with the Wilson US Open extra duty felt balls at the US Open. The ball's future is a WTA decision, says Tournament Director Stacey Allaster.
Photo credit: Wilson
It's a new ball game at the US Open this month.
Women will play with the Wilson US Open extra duty felt ball, which the men use, rather than the regular duty felt ball, which women have used for years in Flushing Meadows.
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The ball's future US Open status is in the WTA's court, says US Open Tournament Director and former WTA Chief Stacey Allaster.
In a 2023 US Open Pre-Tournament Press Conference Zoom call with the media today, Allaster said the US Open is using the Wilson extra duty felt ball on a trial basis this year.
Allaster said the US Open is happy to use whichever version of the Wilson ball, women players prefer—the WTA needs to deliver a final verdict by the end of this 2023 Open to give Wilson adequate time to manufacture the ball.
"Right now this is a trial," Allaster said. "The WTA is polling the players. They've been playing with the ball in Canada and Cincinnati. We'll expect the WTA to tell us at the end of the 2023 US Open if they'd like to continue with the Wilson Extra Duty or they prefer to go back to the regular felt balls.
"100% in the athletes' decision. We're happy to do whatever the athletes want as it relates to the ball. So is our long time, 45-year partner Wilson."
The US Open Tournament Director said the WTA has long held the last call on the ball used in the season's final Grand Slam tournament.
"Every year the WTA informs us of what Wilson US Open ball they would like their athletes to play with. We have been unwavering, that's been their decision," Allaster said. "Last year during the tournament, we had some players that wanted to change the ball.
"I met with some of those players and said, Look, talk to [WTA CEO] Steve Simon, talk to your player council representatives. If the WTA wants to change the ball, no problem. Wilson accommodates that. No extra cost.
"The only condition we gave to the WTA was we need to know what ball you want to play with in 2023 at the end of the 2022 US Open. That's how far the lead times are for Wilson to produce the volume of our US Open ball."
The Wilson ball, which has also been the official ball of Roland Garros since 2020, came under some scrutiny from some stars, including Iga Swiatek and Paula Badosa, who complained the regular duty ball was too light, was flying too much and presented control issues.
Despite her public dissatisfaction with the ball, Swiatek went on to defeat Ons Jabeur to capture the 2022 US Open championship.
“Honestly, I don't like them,” Swiatek said before the 2022 US Open. “I have heard many players actually complaining, as well. Woman players, because we have different balls than men. I know it sounds weird, but basically the thing is that they are lighter. They fly like crazy.
“You know, we have really powerful games right now. … Right now we play powerful, and we kind of can't loosen up our hands with these balls. I know that there are many players who complain, and many of them are top 10.”
Spain’s Paula Badosa cited her own complaint with visual evidence, posting a picture of the different balls used by men and women at the Open.
"Very unfavourable conditions for the players and for the spectacle," Badosa posted on Instagram last summer. "Then we complain that there are a lot of errors and there's a loss of tactics and intelligence on points. (While what we deal with is) faster courts and balls impossible to control."
The 2023 US Open marks the first time in more than a decade men and women will both play with the Wilson US Open extra duty felt ball.
“Men and women use the same ball in terms of size, pressure and design,” the USTA said in a past statement. “The sole difference is that the men compete with an extra-duty felt ball while the women compete using a regular-duty felt ball.”