Daria Kasatkina has joined the list of players who believe the constant ball changes on the Tour are causing injuries to players. Since the start of the Asian swing, the criticism of the constant ball changes in tournaments massively increased, with some players claiming that the increasing number of injuries in tennis can be linked to the balls.
In the latest vlog uploaded on her 'Zabiiako & Kasatkina' YouTube channel, Kasatkina addressed the ball changes issue after her Tokyo quarterfinal exit. As Kasatkina was preparing to kick off her Beijing campaign, she wondered what type of balls would be used at the China Open.
“I remind you, there are different courts, I’ll open a secret, when they write that surface is hard, it’s not always the same surface, it’s like the same, but it can be faster or slower depending on who they bought it from, etc.
So, each tournament can have a different surface, for example, now in Tokyo was very fast. How it will be in Beijing now, I already don’t remember, will see, maybe changed something. Of course, different balls, in this series of tournaments, out of the four tournaments that I will play, four different balls.
Say bye to your shoulders, wrists, elbows, and most importantly, mentality. Let’s go,” Kasatkina said.
Kasatkina didn't do well in Beijing
After wondering what conditions she would encounter in Beijing, Kasatkina didn't really make it far at the China Open.
In her Beijing opener, Kasatkina claimed a 1-6 6-4 7-6 (8) win over Mayar Sherif. After just barely surviving the Sherif match, Kasatkina suffered a surprise defeat to Wang Xinyu as the Chinese beat the Russian 6-4 6-2. During the Asian swing, Kasatkina competed in the tournaments as she also made the Tokyo quarterfinal and reached the semifinal in Zhengzhou last week. After competing in each of the last three weeks, Kasatkina is having a week off and not playing anywhere this week.