No, no, I don’t mean fuzzyyellowballs.com, the site by Will Hamilton and Adam Sieminski.  I mean the actual tennis balls that the site was named after.

There are plenty of tennis fans who look at the desire by the top players to form a union as silly.  It’s the same reactions fans have in team sports in the US.  The players are too greedy.  They should do what “we” do for a living.  Why can’t they be happy with a few million dollars?  Of course, the question is not nearly that simple.  After all, why do the owners deserve that much money?  Why can’t they give it all to the players who do all this work for them.  It’s a classic that Karl and Marx might be happy with except the average Joe seems to side with those who have all the wealth.  It’s perfectly OK for them to want even more money.

But, strangely enough, the tennis powers that be aren’t interested in more money.  Most players feel pretty well compensated.  One reason, interestingly enough, is their discretion in playing tournaments.  Most team sports, at least in the US, require players to play an entire season.  If they could opt out of games or if they could play wherever they wanted, the players would have a lot more power.  This isn’t to say there isn’t pressure for players to play everywhere, but that their ability to say no, I’m hurt, or no, I lack motivation is extremely compelling.

And for that reason, the players aren’t nearly as concerned about prize money.  They do plenty fine there.  What they do complain about is the schedule, but it may not be the schedule that they go after first.

Oddly enough, it might be tennis balls.

Sure these fuzzy yellow beasts tend to look the same, but even a recreational player will have a favorite ball.  They always buy Penn, or they always buy Wilson (few people seem to do this, by the way).  When they don’t play with their brand ball, they blame the ball on the poor play (the ball won’t bounce–it’s too hard, this ball sucks).  But it’s a bigger deal for the pros.  Pros have built their games around accuracy and some of it has to do with the balls they play with.

This complaint isn’t exactly new news.  Back at the French Open, players as prominent as Rafael Nadal wondered why they played with Babolat balls in the French, but different balls in tournaments leading up to the French.  The reason?  Ball companies sign contracts with individual tournaments.  You would think there would be one ball for the entire year, but you would be wrong.  The National Football League only uses one kind of ball, presumably, so does Major League Baseball (although this ball might change year to year).

Sure, these are professionals, but as pros, their goal is to produce their best tennis.  After all, isn’t that what the fans want?  Tennis tournaments, on the other hand, want to make money, and they do so in a variety of ways.  They might pay guarantee money to ensure top pros like Federer and Nadal play in Doha, half a world away from the Australian Open.  This will likely increase ticket sales and sponsors may be happier about paying out more prize money.

Pros do, of course, adjust to the tennis balls.  It may be one reason most of the top pros take the week off before a major.  They want a week of training with the new ball so it doesn’t surprise them.  Andy Murray, who has been having several good weeks of tennis on the Asian swing, said that this is the third ball he’s used in three tournaments.  The balls used in Bangkok, Tokyo, and Shanghai are all different.  Nadal has also expressed his unhappiness with the ball situation.

Now, realistically, it might be asking a lot for tournaments to play with the same ball everywhere.  There are at least half a dozen major ball manufacturers.  No one wants to be completely squeezed out.  What players like Rafa have proposed is to use the same ball for stretches at a time.  So perhaps the same balls in the few weeks leading up the the Australian Open.  Then, the South American clay circuit can use the same balls.  The tournaments leading up to Indian Wells and Miami can use the same balls.  The European clay circuit leading to the French can use the same balls.  However, the balls used in one part of the tour doesn’t have to be the same as a different part of the tour.

As it is, players have to adjust to different court speeds, different altitudes, different temperatures.  This would be one less variable to get used to.

So while the NBA is working with players to avoid a strike season, perhaps one that involves how much money players get, the tennis players may be lobbying for more consistent tennis balls.