{"id":2624,"date":"2026-08-12T17:15:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2026-08-12T17:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T17:15:38","slug":"havent-blamed-the-f-balls-ex-world-no-1-slams-alexander-zverev-for-canadian-open-excuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2624","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Haven\u2019t blamed the f****** balls\u2019 \u2013 Ex-world No 1 slams Alexander Zverev for Canadian Open excuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zverev<\/a> has been told to ditch the excuses after the German blamed the \u201cconditions and the balls\u201d following his Canadian Open exit.<\/p>\n

In his first match back since his Wimbledon final loss, Zverev<\/a> went down in three sets to Tallon Griekspoor, as the Dutchman\u2019s aggressive tactics proved too much for the French Open champion.<\/p>\n

After the defeat, the 29-year-old revealed he was not happy with the playing conditions in Montreal and the Wilson tennis balls<\/a>, which play quite differently to the Dunlop balls used at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI think with the conditions and the balls, I think there is going to be some strange-ish results, ranking-wise, player-wise, that you maybe don\u2019t expect during other tournaments. And, again, it\u2019s the first hard court event for us in a couple of months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody is still trying to find their form. The balls are just not controllable. It\u2019s the same every year. It\u2019s nothing new. The Wilson balls are difficult, but again, that\u2019s not the reason I lost today. I think I\u2019m just not in form yet that I was the last couple of months.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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While many players have criticised the quality of tennis balls being used on the tennis tour for years now, with some speculating that manufacturers have dropped their standards since the coronavirus pandemic, Rennae Stubbs<\/a> has laid into Zverev for his recent remarks.<\/p>\n

The former world No 1 doubles player stressed that the all-time greats would never do that after a defeat.<\/p>\n

The Australian said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast<\/a>, \u201cEvery time he [Zverev] loses, as you said, there\u2019s always a frigging excuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, have you ever heard Rafael Nadal<\/a> or Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer<\/a> or Serena Williams complain about the balls and that\u2019s the reason why they lost? I mean, what are we doing here? Yes, the balls are very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her co-host Caitlin Thompson pointed out that tennis legend Billie Jean King once said, \u201cChampions adjust\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stubbs, who is coaching Serena Williams<\/a> at present, could not agree more. Plus, both players have to deal with these conditions but the best find a way to win.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cExactly, that is my point. So you know that. Get your strings tighter, whatever it is, we\u2019ve all been there. I know exactly how that ball feels after coming from London and it does fly. And some players love it, some players hate it, and you need to adjust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you one thing. When Rafa, or Roger, or Novak<\/a> or any great player has lost in Canada, they haven\u2019t blamed the f****** balls. Because guess what? They know what the balls are. They\u2019re Wilson, they\u2019re different.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHAT NEXT? ATP Cincinnati Open draw 2026: Novak Djokovic & Alexander Zverev on collision course<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post \u2018Haven\u2019t blamed the f****** balls\u2019 \u2013 Ex-world No 1 slams Alexander Zverev for Canadian Open excuse<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Zverev has been told to ditch the excuses after the German blamed the \u201cconditions and the balls\u201d following his Canadian Open exit. In his first match back since his Wimbledon final loss, Zverev went down in three sets to Tallon Griekspoor, as the Dutchman\u2019s aggressive tactics proved too much for the French Open champion. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}