Alex de Minaur, resigned to finding himself overpowered again at the French Open, believes the heavier tennis balls being employed at Roland Garros can only aid the most powerful hitters.
De Minaur, one of the more slight players on tour who relies on speed and court craft and can't match the firepower of the bigger sluggers on clay, once again found himself outgunned by heavier artillery on Thursday as he got knocked out in the second round in straight sets by Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
The dogged Australian was left resigned to the familiar feeling that "I did everything in my power" and yet it was still not enough.
But while accepting Etcheverry had played the much better game, he felt his own struggles were partly down to the new Wilson balls being used.
“There’s no denying he's a great clay-court player. He’s a strong player,” said de Minaur.
“I think it's just tough, especially on the surface, but I think also these balls, they're very heavy and get big very quickly."
There has not been as much controversy about the Roland Garros balls as there was leading into the Australian Open, where a number of players complained about the slower, heavier balls used there.
But there's been some concern in Paris from players about how quickly the felt of the Wilson balls is fluffing up, which tends to suit physically stronger players.
De Minaur believes, even if the weather remains warm and dry throughout Roland Garros as it has throughout the championship, the heavier hitters will excel.
“Naturally they are heavy balls, even when they’re new, and it takes literally one game for the balls to get pretty big,” de Minaur said.
“And then you have got to play another six games, or eight games, with those balls and they get massive, almost like they don't have a lot of pressure.
“So I think ultimately, you're going to be seeing a lot of the big hitters, the stronger guys, getting good results and benefiting from these types of balls, because they almost can hit the ball harder and harder and not be worried about missing."
In contrast, the 1.83m, 74kg de Minaur was increasingly struggling.
"Game after game, I was out there trying new things. I was trying to press and overpress but I just wasn't getting anything out of the court and the ball, and that led to me trying to go for even more and have a lot of errors."
