‘Balls are heavy, courts are slow’: Are the conditions to blame for Pegula’s Australian Open loss?

MELBOURNE, Australia — American world No. 6 Jessica Pegula usually loves playing in Melbourne. She’s an aggressive stroke-maker, who uses her racket head speed to generate huge power and push her opponents around the courts.

The Australian Open is her best Grand Slam in terms of consistency; she’s made the quarterfinals here three times, whereas she’s only made, or passed, that mark four times at all other Slams combined.

So when she was beaten soundly by unseeded Serb Olga Danilovic in the third round Friday night, it raised eyebrows.

Pegula said conditions were drastically different on a cool evening on Rod Laver Arena compared to other courts, declaring the featured stadium “slower than a clay court” — no mean feat given the racy blue surfaces at Melbourne Park are usually quite zippy.

Generally, grass courts are the fastest on the tour; a lack of friction means shots — in particular, serves — shoot through without losing much momentum. Hard courts, like those used at the Australian and US Open, are usually the next fastest, with slight differences noticeable depending on what the hard-court material is, followed by clay, with its grippier, bouncier texture lending itself to slower play, more topspin and fewer winners.

“Conditions were so slow. It was slower than a clay court, it felt like. The balls were so heavy, and that totally I think favored [Danilovic] for sure,” Pegula said following the loss.

“Especially with her lefty kind of whippy forehand up to my backhand, it’s really tough. Then, you know, usually where I feel like I can get free points off of returning really well, I felt like because she was making a lot of high-percentage first serves, and then with the conditions being slower, like, my ball just wasn’t getting me any free points, it seemed like.”

Danilovic, who uses a little more topspin, agreed the Rod Laver Arena surface was slower than the outside courts, something which suited her style of play, especially at night.

In Melbourne, it’s generally understood the roofed courts (Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena) can be slower than those outside in the elements. With shading, and therefore lower surface temperatures, tennis on the feature courts can play differently. Then there’s the variable which night brings. Cooler conditions mean slower courts.

“It’s not even the same tournament as my first round on John Cain Arena. During the day, on this court, it’s fast. Playing there at night, it’s not the same at all,” Pegula said.

Pegula is not the first top player to notice something different this year at Melbourne. Two-time reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka commented on the conditions, declaring the balls felt “heavy;” not necessarily anything to do with the weight of the balls, but something which lends itself to players who utilize topspin compared to flatter hitting.

During her run at last year’s Australian Open, Sabalenka was broken just six times throughout her seven matches on the way to her second title in two years. Her blistering style of play was nearly unstoppable, and her tour-leading forehand shot speed a major reason why. This year, through three matches, she’s already been broken 10 times. She indicated a combination of court and ball conditions probably wasn’t suiting her best style of play.

“Conditions are pretty heavy for servers. It’s not giving you that much of an advantage as usual, yeah, balls are heavy. Courts are a little slower. You just have to sometimes just put the serve in and just play the rally,” she said.

Not all top players are in agreement though. No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek hadn’t noticed any difference in the court or ball speed from previous years, but perhaps that’s because she leads the WTA in topspin revolutions per minute (RPM), the not-so-secret to her success on clay, and something which this year’s Australian Open conditions may be suiting better.

“I haven’t noticed the courts being slower. So for me, they’re fast anyway. The balls … I remember that last year I felt like at the beginning when they were new they flew like bullets. You couldn’t really control them. Especially, yeah, they were just so fast in the air. I don’t feel this this year,” she said after her third-round 6-1, 6-0 win over Emma Raducanu.

“Still they are really dynamic and bouncing off the court pretty fast. No, I mean, I wouldn’t say there’s much difference.”

And men’s No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz said while the temperature on court may have had an effect on the ball speed across his first three matches, nothing stood out to him about the courts.

“The ball became a little bit faster with the heat. I gonna say that that was why everything was a little bit trickier than the previous matches. But I think it wasn’t because of the court. It wasn’t because of Rod Laver. I just found it like other courts,” Alcaraz said.

It’s little wonder 22-time Slam winner Rafael Nadal used to request day matches as long as he could in Australia; aside from thriving under the sun, the extra bounce on warmer courts in particular suited his propensity to generate topspin on his shots.

For Pegula, perhaps next year she’ll get into the ear of Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley with a message: day sessions only, please.