Taylor Fritz isn’t happy with the new Dunlop tennis balls. Honestly, he thinks the quality “dropped a lot” just as everyone heads into Indian Wells, the first Masters 1000 event of the year.

This year, Dunlop is taking over from Penn as the official ball supplier. But in the weeks before the tournament, players started complaining. They just don’t like how these balls feel and play.

Fritz joined in, saying the Dunlop balls are slow and wear out way too fast. He didn’t hold back; he flat-out said they just aren’t up to standard.

“The next tournament is Indian Wells, and, honestly, it’s going to be very interesting,” Fritz said. “This year they’re changing the ball, and we’ll be playing with the Dunlop, which is the one we use most on the tour.

“The thing is, the Dunlop, in general, is slow. When it wears down, it gets even slower, and lately it’s been wearing down very quickly. I really think the quality of the balls has dropped a lot.”

Fritz offered a fix: swap out the balls more often. Right now, he says, players go too many games between changes.

“On fast courts, the Dunlop works very well, but on slow courts it’s awful. It wasn’t such a big problem before, so I think the frequency of ball changes should also be changed. Seven or nine games are too many. The other day, at 3-3 in the first set, I was looking at the ball and thinking, ‘How are we playing professional tennis with this?’ It’s ridiculous.”

Fritz isn’t the only one complaining. Daniil Medvedev, never shy with his opinions, said it’s impossible to play with Dunlop balls. “The problem is when you touch it with the racket, it does not react the same way on your shots, so how do you want us to play tennis?” he said.

World No. 6 Alex de Minaur agreed. He struggled with the balls even in practice and said they’re just tough to control. “I have struggled a lot in practice,” de Minaur said. “I have actually been quite frustrated with the balls in practice, which is not like me. I do get what Daniil says about the balls. They are definitely not my favourite. I don’t think they are anyone’s favourite balls. They are very difficult to control.”

Arthur Fils didn’t mince words either: “They are terrible. Really terrible. The ball is very bad. It is unbelievable.”

Emma Raducanu has brought Mark Petchey back onto her team just before Indian Wells. She split from Francisco Roig after the Australian Open in January.

Since then, she’s been working with Alexis Canter, who’s still in her corner. Now Petchey’s joining in a more flexible, as-needed role. He actually coached her from March to July last year.

It’s a bit surprising; honestly, just a few days ago, Raducanu said she wasn’t searching for a new coach. Talking to the Guardian, she explained, “Right now, I have Alexis in my corner. He knows me as a person. He knows me as a player.”

She’s hoping this new team clicks at the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, especially after making the final at the Transylvania Open not long ago. Petchey, by the way, coached Andy Murray when he was just starting. When Murray and Petchey parted ways, Murray was open about it.

“Mark has been a big part of my success in the last 10 months, and we had a great run together, but we have had a difference of opinion regarding some aspects of my game,” Murray said back in April 2006. “It was a very difficult decision and based solely on the development of my tennis.”

Their partnership didn’t even last a whole year, but Petchey was there when a teenage Murray won his first ATP title in February 2006. Petchey saw something special in him right from the start.

After they split, Petchey said, “I am very proud of what we have achieved together, getting Andy into the top 50 and winning his first ATP title at the age of 18. I do not doubt that Andy will make the top 10 and be a Grand Slam winner in the future, and I wish him every success.”

Murray outdid all those predictions, picking up three Grand Slams and two Olympic golds. Still, there was never any bad blood. In 2016, with Murray at world No. 1, Petchey called him Britain’s greatest-ever sportsman.

He told Sky Sports, “I just think for Andy, with the way his opponents can impact his performance, the things he has to do to overcome them tactically, you saw it this week, the different styles of players, the different surfaces, criss-crossing the globe the way he does. For me, he is [Britain’s greatest ever sportsman], but there will be others who definitely disagree.”