Murray opposes French ball switch

Roland Garros have this year switched from Dunlop balls – which are used at all the other major clay court events leading up to the second grand slam of the season – to Babolat balls.

The players have noticed a significant difference, with the Babolat balls proving much faster, which should prove an advantage to players who, like Murray, prefer hard courts.

The fourth seed, though, feels changing balls during a run of tournaments on the same surface presents players with an unnecessary injury risk.

Murray said: “I practised with it in London before I came over here. I don’t mind the ball but I would just rather we played with the same ball throughout the clay court stretch and the same throughout the hard court stretch.

“It happens in the States as well. At the US Open they play with Wilson, and at the hard court events in the build-up they use Penn.

“I just think for the players’ joints, your wrist, elbow and shoulder, it makes sense to stick with the same ball. I don’t have a problem with the ball, the ball probably helps me, the ball is quite fast.

“But I would just rather we played with the same ball throughout each part of the season. On the grass, I’d rather all the tournaments were with Slazenger.

“That’s what I would prefer and I think that’s what most of the tour would prefer.”

The change of ball could also play into the hands of Novak Djokovic, who is aiming to maintain his incredible unbeaten start to the season and prevent Rafael Nadal equalling Bjorn Borg’s haul of six titles at Roland Garros.

The Serb said: “I think the balls are quite different from the ones that we played with in the tournaments before Roland Garros and at Roland Garros last year.

“The balls are very, very fast, so it’s really difficult to control. Maybe it’s going to favour the servers and the big hitters. But it is still clay and it is still the best of five sets, so you have to rely on your physical ability.”

Djokovic and Roger Federer will begin their campaigns today against Thiemo De Bakker and Feliciano Lopez, respectively, while Murray, who takes on French wild card Eric Prodon, and Nadal will have to wait until tomorrow.

There will be British interest today, though, with qualifier Heather Watson facing Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Anne Keothavong taking on Russia’s Vesna Dolonts.

Both have a good chance of victory – something no British woman has achieved since Clare Wood beat Gigi Fernandez in 1994 – while Elena Baltacha also fancies her chances against promising American teenager Sloane Stephens after some impressive results on clay.

The British No 1 said: “I hit with her in Indian Wells and it was clear then that she has loads of promise.

“It will be a question of whether she can do it consistently, which is something that a lot of young players struggle with.

“She’s won her matches in qualifying and she’ll feel very confident but I’m coming into the tournament feeling really good about how I’ve been playing on clay.”

Baltacha had to pull out of her second-round match in Strasbourg last week because of a stiff back, but she added: “My back has loosened off a lot and I’ve hit full-out here and felt great.”

David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga posted convincing wins on the opening day of the French Open but Marin Cilic’s poor run continued as he was dumped out by Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

Last year’s runner-up Sam Stosur began in impressive fashion with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Iveta Benesova yesterday.