BIG BALLS

THE marriage between the Wilson ball and the Plexicushion court being used in Australia could hand an advantage to heavy hitters Marat Safin, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal, according to Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

After losing his second round Sydney International match to baseliner Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 3-6 6-3 6-4, Gasquet questioned the wisdom of using the heavier ball, claiming it would favour players with greater physical strength and not those who relied on finesse.

"I think the balls are difficult. The surface is great, no problem, but the balls are too big," Gasquet said. "I really don't like these balls. For the shoulder it's hard. It's really hard for my serve, for my game. I don't know why they use these balls. The court is great, but not the balls."

Another Frenchman, Fabrice Santoro thought the court surface played slow and the Wilson balls were heavy.

"I think if you put light balls and fast balls the court is going to be quite quick," Santoro said.

Australia's No1 Lleyton Hewitt agreed the balls became "fluffy" but wasn't sure the stronger players would have a leg-up at the Australian Open next week.

"I don't know if that's the case," Hewitt said. "Sometimes guys that sit out there and grind, sometimes it favours them as well because they don't miss and the other guys find it harder to hit winners against them. You can look at that both ways."