Brad1981,
IIRC, you're playing in Arcade mode, no ? (the 2nd point here hints to it =>
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=35053&p=288997&hilit=arcade#p288972 )
In Arcade mode, you're going to do more of the faster accelerations, as the position penalty is lower. Although, it shouldn't alter the CPU behavior.
Anyway, as exposed in the 2 posts above, I have to find a correct balance between attack & defense, and it seems that right now, we're not too bad (except on clay with top players

).
Did you try to play in Elite mode ? It should lower a bit the average ball speed.