Federer, Nadal discuss new, slower balls being used at Australian Open

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal say the new Dunlop balls being used at the Australian Open are a little heavier than the Wilson balls previously being used at the tournament.

Federer told press the balls now "definitely play a touch different," especially in slower conditions at night. But he added that the tournament did speed up the courts a few years ago, which has kept a balance.

"At night the spin is not taking off tremendously," he said. "As they changed the finals also to a night session, and the semis also night sessions, I just feel like it's really important to have fast-enough courts for night session conditions as the main matches are being played there. If you keep it slow, slow, at night the ball doesn't move.

"From that standpoint, I think they have done a nice job of speeding up the courts. Now the ball, honestly still early, to exactly tell you. I still feel like you can serve your way out of trouble from the baseline. You can spin and slice, all that stuff we saw today."

Several commentators have also said that the balls tend to become bigger and slower during the course of play than the Wilson balls, creating a bigger change when new balls are introduced into play during a match.

Nadal agreed that the balls are slower, but said that while they were not his preference, there were no significant issues.

"The ball is big. With colder conditions, especially during the night, the ball is bigger. Yes, the ball is going a little bit more slow, no," he said. "Not that high bounces that sometimes we used to have here.

"But the ball is what there is. Is fair enough. Is a good quality ball. I can't complain about the ball. Personally if you ask me, I like little bit faster ball than this one. But I can't say is a bad ball because is a good ball. I feel is a fair ball for everyone."

The new ball was also used at Australian tour events like the Hopman Cup, Brisbane and Sydney.

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