Taylor Fritz called out the slow court speeds at the Shanghai Masters after surviving a scare against Fabian Marozsan on Friday night.
The American came back to win 2-6 7-6 7-6 and said: “It is incredibly slow. If I’m being honest, it’s a very bad change here. Last year, the courts were obviously fast on the speed index, but the balls were very slow, so I actually thought the tournament here was played on the slightly slower side, but it was alright.
“It wasn’t like insanely slow. Now they slowed the courts down. The balls are maybe not quite as slow, but they’re still pretty slow.”
Like Novak Djokovic, Fritz also struggled with the humidity in Shanghai.
He added: “You play three balls into the ball change, and they’re massive, and you can’t do anything with the ball. Not to mention the humidity as well. It slows it down as well. It feels like the ball’s not going anywhere.”