On the late afternoon of Thursday, September 10th, ATP No. 10 Taylor Fritz posted what he himself called a “massive tennis ball rant” on X about the quality of Wilson’s US Open tennis ball collection. He joins a group of professional players who have complained this season about the balls certain brands are producing.Rant on XIn his initial X post, Fritz started out by proclaiming that he was happy with Wilson’s products at actual ATP tournaments, saying, “After playing Washington, Cincinnati, and the US Open … I got a VERY good feel for the Wilson US Open balls we were using and know EXACTLY what they should feel like off my racket. They were good balls, and I have no complaints about what we played with at those tournaments this summer.”His problem, he stated, was with the supposedly identical balls sold by Wilson: “My last two days of practice with Wilson US Open balls have been miserable. They are sold, marketed, and labeled as the same balls, but the way they come off my racket and feel couldn’t be more different.”Fritz went on to say that he has tried balls from multiple cases of Wilson US Open line and consulted with other professional players since his time at Flushing Meadows to confirm that they were also witnessing an inconsistency in quality.He went on, adding, “That leads to the obvious the bigger issue and the reason for the rant: we need to be able to train with the same balls we compete with, and in the past I feel like this wasn’t usually an issue. It didn't used to feel this way. There was consistency, and any small differences could usually be explained by the court or conditions.”Massive tennis ball rant incoming.After playing Washington, Cincinnati, and the US Open, plus a full week of training in New York beforehand, I got a VERY good feel for the Wilson US Open balls we were using and know EXACTLY what they should feel like off my racket. They were…— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) September 10, 2026Fritz’s US Open ExitFritz’s online rant comes freshly after his surprising US Open exit. As the only American man to make the US Open final since Andy Roddick in 2006, the 28-year-old was heavily favored to repeat that feat this year and maybe even end the 23-year American drought since Roddick won in 2003.In his third-round match at Flushing Meadows this year, he faced Francisco Cerundolo and was looking pretty strong at first, winning the first two sets 6-3, 6-4. Unfortunately for Fritz, there was a massive reversal of power, and Cerundolo took the last three sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.Follow-Up CommentAfter some fans tried to paint Fritz as a sore loser because of the recent US Open exit, he posted a follow-up comment on his original post: “Also anyone that is trying to tie this into my loss or say I’m making an excuse for any loss, please seek help. I’m sorry to tell you that you are in fact illiterate.”The American player continued, saying, “As I said before I really liked the tournament balls and this rant is me wishing I also had them when I come home to train after the tournament.”Also anyone that is trying to tie this into my loss or say I’m making an excuse for any loss, please seek help. I’m sorry to tell you that you are in fact illiterate. As I said before I really liked the tournament balls and this rant is me wishing I also had them when I come home…— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) September 10, 2026Past Ball Comments by Other PlayersFritz is far from the first professional tennis player to complain about tennis ball quality. During a post-match interview just last month, WTA No. 3 Jessica Pegula complained about the problem of ball consistency, saying “We’ve talked a lot about these freaking tennis balls, till the cows come home, oh my gosh … It’s just hard, because you learn a lot about it.”“I think where you get frustrated is where you’re constantly changing,” she added, “and I know at one point, the men were playing with, like, three different balls in three weeks. Like, that’s crazy. Like, you ask any other sport to kind of deal with that, and they’re like, Are you joking? Like, that wouldn’t happen. So it sounds silly, but it does make a big difference.”During his first-round match at the Rotterdam Open this year, ATP No. 8 Daniil Medvedev had a complaint go viral about the use of a different brand’s balls: “Head balls, are they round? It is round? Are you sure because I see it not round … HEAD Tour XT balls is not round so we should not be playing with it, nobody should be buying it.”At Indian Wells earlier this year, future Cincinnati Open champion Arthur Fils called the balls “terrible” and the situation “unbelievable” after Fritz made complaints about the tournament switching from Penn to Dunlop.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow