I think it's the balls that slow down the game," says Djokovic

© AFP

Clément Gehl

le 04/07/2025 à 08h34

1 min to read

Djokovic Wimbledon

Having qualified for the third round of Wimbledon, where he will face his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic, Novak Djokovic shared his thoughts on the playing conditions at Wimbledon, where many say they have significantly slowed down.

For the Serbian player, the issue mostly stems from the balls. He states: "The main difference I notice compared to 15 or 10 years ago is the balls.

The Slazenger balls we use here are of good quality, but they soften much faster than they did 10 or 15 years ago.

I don’t know if it’s due to the ball manufacturing process or if something has changed, but I don’t think it’s specifically the grass.

Wimbledon follows certain rules to prepare its grass courts. I doubt they’ve been altered. I simply believe the balls slow down the game.

This allows baseline players who use a lot of topspin to play very good tennis and achieve excellent results at Wimbledon or on other grass courts, which might not have been possible before.

However, grass is the fastest surface in our sport—it offers more free points on the first serve, and a good serve is rewarded—but it’s certainly easier to play from the baseline now than at the start of my career, for example.