Stan Wawrinka alerts ATP, ITF again after complaint over poor ball quality in Indian Wells, highlights struggles faced by players at event in Slovakia
Stan Wawrinka has continued to rally against the ATP Tour and other tennis organizers over the poor quality of balls and, this time, raised concerns over ball quality at an ITF event in Slovakia.
Bastien Fazincani, a coach on the WTA Tour and tennis consultant, drew Stan Wawrinka's attention to poor ball conditions at the ITF W75 tournament in Trvana, Slovakia, on March 7. Fazicani, who works with Hungarian player Panna Udvardy, tweeted pictures of worn-out balls after just seven minutes of warmup in Trvana.
Fazicani further stated that the tournament organizers only permitted three new balls per day. Wawrinka was disappointed by this incident at a professional tennis tournament and alerted the ATP and ITF about the situation.
"Hey @stanwawrinka this is our balls after exactly 7min of warmup, this week in Trnava ITF W75. Only 3 new balls allowed per day…..," Fazicani tweeted.
"🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️@atptour @ITFTennis," Stan Wawrinka responded.
This came after Wawrinka called out the organizers of the Masters 1000 2024 BNP Paribas Open on March 2 over mediocre ball quality and tagged tournament director Tommy Haas alongside a picture of Penn Balls worn out after just one rally. The Swiss questioned the organizers if these kinds of balls were normal for one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world.
"Question: Is not normal that in 2024 at @BNPPARIBASOPEN one of biggest tennis tournament in the world ,we have to do are 2nd practice with old balls ?? @atptour @TommyHaas13 Thats 1 rally play with the ball," the Swiss tweeted.
Stan Wawrinka bows out of 2024 Indian Wells Masters in 1R
Stan Wawrinka continued to struggle for form on the 2024 ATP Tour and headed for an early exit at the BNP Paribas Open. At the year's first ATP 1000-level tournament, the three-time Grand Slam champion faced Tomas Machac in the first round.
The Czech, who has been in good form this year, took the first set via tiebreaker. But, Wawrinka showed determination to come back into the contest by winning the second set. Machac then turned the screws on Wawrinka to break his serve thrice in the third set and win the match, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2.
This was the 37-year-old's fourth loss of the year. Previously, Wawrinka was defeated by Adrian Mannarino at the Australian Open, Nicolas Jarry at the Argentina Open, and Facundo Diaz Acosta at the Rio Open. The World No. 70's only win in 2024 came against Pedro Cachin in Buenos Aires.