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Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka recently took umbrage at the quality of the balls at the pros' disposal for practice ahead of the 2024 Indian Wells Masters next week.
The 38-year-old hasn't had an ideal start to this year's season after dropping three of his first four matches on the ATP Tour, and is next scheduled to play at the Indian Wells Masters, which will be the first big tournament for male players in the post-Australian Open hardcourt season.
Considering the status of the Palm Springs event, Stan Wawrinka was disappointed with the Penn balls given to him during a practice session. The three-time Major winner voiced his disapproval on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday (March 1), claiming that the balls wore out after just one rally.
He even tagged the Indian Wells Masters Tournament Director Tommy Haas and the ATP Tour in his post.
"Question: Is not normal that in 2024 at @BNPPARIBASOPEN one of biggest tennis tournaments in the world , we have to do are 2nd practice with old balls ?? @atptour @TommyHaas13 Thats 1 rally play with the ball," Stan Wawrinka wrote on X.
In the past, Wawrinka had criticized the ATP Tour for employing different balls in different tournaments. He reposted World No. 123 Zizou Bergs' Instagram story last October, where the Belgian had insisted that frequent injuries could be 'prevented by not changing balls every week'.
"I think it's time to look carefully at the fact that many players are getting wrist injuries which could, possibly, be prevented by not changing every week of balls...," Bergs posted on his Instagram story last year.
"Yep," Stan Wawrinka wrote in his repost of the above story.
Stan Wawrinka has enjoyed a good comeback from foot injury woes in 2021
Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka enjoyed a respectable season for his age last year. The former World No. 3 compiled a 27-23 win/loss record on the ATP Tour, the highlights of which included a runner-up finish to World No. 38 Alexei Popyrin at the 2023 Croatia Open in Umag.
The three-time Major winner was a consistent figure in the top rungs of the ATP Tour until early 2021 when he suffered a foot injury. The 38-year-old subsequently underwent two surgeries to rectify the issue and was out of action for a year, causing his singles ranking to fall well outside the top 200.
Nonetheless, Wawrinka was undeterred by his stroke of bad luck and worked incredibly hard to get his ranking to as high as 56th in January this year. The Swiss, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Indian Wells in 2017, will be eager for a good showing at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament next week.
