The balls being used at Indian Wells are getting a lot of complaints from players. The tournament uses Penn balls for the hard court but players just hate it.
Casper Ruud, who participated in the Tie Break Tens event, said that he can’t feel the ball during an interview after the event. The main complaint from the players is that the ball feels different from the other balls used on the tour.
Miami Open, which follows Indian Wells, uses Dunlop balls. The Penn balls are tough to control and make it harder for players to hit consistent shots. Paris Masters uses the same Penn balls as Indian Wells.
The tour, for years, has tried to create a consistent playing experience so that players don’t have to switch balls as they go from one tournament to another. But tournaments still use different balls.
Players such as Sebastian Korda and Dominic Thiem have claimed that their wrist injuries were due to the balls used.