Paris Masters tournament director Cedric Pioline hit back after players issued complaints about the court speed and tennis balls used at the last Masters 1000 event of the year. The tournament moved to a new home this year, the La Defense Arena, and the court speed has been slowed down compared to last year.

It comes as the likes of Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev have accused tournament bosses of slowing down the courts to favour Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. But Pioline has explained that it’s not that simple – and suggested that some players had nothing to complain about.

Earlier in the tournament, Pioline had already addressed the court speed, explaining that they were “told that last year’s court was too fast”. The courts were also slowed down to match the speeds at the ATP Finals in Turin, helping players adjust.

Zverev has already been outspoken about slower courts on the tour. This week, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Bublik also claimed that the Paris Masters court surface was slower than clay.

That’s not the only issue the stars have had in Paris this week. After his opening match, Felix Auger-Aliassime told L’Equipe: “Honestly, the balls are terrible, they don’t bounce straight.

“When you try to keep the ball in the court, it’s okay, but as soon as you try to be precise on the serve or hit. It has to change. We need to find a solution, we’ve been talking about it since Covid, but every time, there’s no solution, we need to find one so that it gets better.”

But Pioline has now pointed out that some of the players who complained – Zverev, Bublik and Auger-Aliassime – also reached at least the semi-finals in Paris.

Ahead of Sunday’s final, where Auger-Aliassime meets Jannik Sinner, the tournament director said: “We do not have the possibility to ask for something specific by saying as for the CPI [court pace index], what was measured at 35, we can’t say we want 35.5, 36, or 37.

“We give a range. We want medium, fast, or something. We wanted to have a slower court as opposed to last year. This was crystal clear.

“But I also find it interesting to highlight something. As usual, as for every tournament, we had four semifinalists. Three of them expressed a comment either on the surface or on the balls. If they reached the semifinals in a Masters 1000, it’s already a performance per se.

“Felix, he said the balls are c**p. This is what he said during his first round. What I said afterwards was what about the balls? Maybe they’re not that bad, are they?”

As a retired player, Pioline knows that balls and court speeds do have an effect on the professionals. But he also believes that some comments have not been “constructive”.

He added: “But then these are small discussions we have between the tournament director – I’m an ex-player, as you know – and with the players. I know how the players feel when they arrive in the new facility and venue and they discover the new playing circumstances, but then making a comment about another comment is not constructive.

“But I know we have to sort out between the player discovering the conditions and making a comment without thinking about it, and something that is actually a well-founded comment. I think what we managed to establish is a good compromise for all playing styles.”