Have you seen tennis balls been changed frequently during a game and wondered why? We can tell you Why New Balls Are Important In Tennis. Visit us to know.
At almost every tennis installation, there are quite a number of tennis balls just lying around all the time. In fact, if a person wants to get a ball that’s not being used and use as a dog toy, chances are they can find one in seconds around the facility, and there won’t be a complain.
The reason for that is new tennis balls are being used in tennis. And tennis balls don’t take very long at all for them to age, as they are quite delicate as far as balls are concerned.
Why are new tennis balls relevant in tennis? Without new balls, the game becomes a more difficult to play. Balls don’t travel near as fast neither as far, impacting the game importantly. This can cause poor performance during play and not only that, but injuries as well, as players try to over correct by swinging harder and putting their body under stress.
Why New Balls Are Important In Tennis?
Tennis balls merely manufactured to last a short span of time. First off, pressurized rubber balls with no valve to pump additional air in them when they are low they have circumscribed life. That means exactly after opening, they only have a certain amount of life before they lose their playability.
Thats correct, even a can of tennis balls that hasn’t been touched the court can become unable to use if the container their in is not pressurized. That’s why it’s never recommended to open a can of tennis balls unless their ready to be played with. If a can purchased at a store feels like its been open before, don’t buy them. It’s only going to lead to terrible disappointment popping open the can only to see the balls are flat.
Balls also lose air pressure quickly because of the hard-hitting as well. Even casual players can wear out tennis balls in just a few of hours of playing with them. They are still going to work to a up to a certain point, but they won’t have that fast travel as they should, and they won’t bounce that high either.
Why New Tennis Balls Are a Must For Matches
It’s not about what level of tennis a person plays, a new can of balls is essential. Without a new can of balls, the whole match is going to be very torpid. It can get a bit costly purchasing new balls all the time, but if that’s the situation, only open a new can for when matches are about to be played. Afterwards, collect those balls, and other balls, and turn them to practice balls.
A lot of persons are perfectly okay with practicing with balls that are brand new. They may not completely mimic match conditions, but they are able to be used to a certain point. It’s quite helpful in practice situations to have more than three balls in play at once. Which means less picking up after missed shots, and the ability to toss aside balls that are too flat to use even for practice.
New Balls At The Professional Level
Tennis tournaments at the highest level only use new balls for a certain number of games before they change out and put the used ones aside. Professionals hit the ball with a powerful might, and having lively balls are what players are adopted to. If they played entire matches with the same balls, the final few games would be very torpid.
About all professional tennis event uses new balls at the start, and substitute them after the first seven games (the warm-up is considered to be the equivalent of two games). Afterwards, substitute happens after every nine games.
A few will believe that this is a bit inordinate, but remember these are top-level players hitting the ball powerfully. Court surfaces, specifically hard courts, are also a quite rougher at the highest level. That gritty surface on a hard court can begin to have an effect on the felt, which slows the ball down quite evidently.
The New Ball Advantage
When using new balls, they are at their highest speed potency. This mostly assists players with every single type of shot there is, but most notably on the serve. The newer the balls, the higher the chances of games won by the server. This is particularly true at the professional level, giving just a bit of edge over your opponent that pays off big time.
New balls also bounces off the string bed much more immaculately, which gives players a good amount of Preciseness. Once the ball starts to age, they can accumulate sweat, dirt and more that changes the ball in irregular ways. It’s a challenge that both players has to deal with, so there is no real advantage. Still, it’s a frustrating thing to go to play with balls that become hard to handle in that regard.
The Fluff Factor
Plenty of persons mention the loss of air inside the ball as the excuse to why new balls wear out so quickly. But, there is another element that adds into things, and it’s the felt on the outside.
A brand new can of balls is relatively smooth, with minimum fluff. Once the ball is hit for a while, they fluff up just a bit. Some balls from manufacturers fluff up quicker than others. Hard court balls have a bit more felt then clay court balls, but that is by design. A hard court ball on clay court would collect plenty of sweat and dirt, and also fluff up. That is why clay court balls are made with a diluent layer of felt to make it less as much as possibly can.
Problems Of Playing With An Aging Ball
We have made a shortlist of the issues you might face when playing with a tennis ball that has aged a lot:
Loss of pressure
Tennis balls are pressurised and they are not manufactured with a valve to be able to control the leaking or input of pressure. It is hence quite possible that once the seal of the box in which the balls are stored is broken, the tennis balls may be exposed to normal atmospheric pressure which will cause pressure from the ball to leak out, and the ball might not bounce normally.
Requires more effort
There is a lot more effort that will be required if a ball has lost pressure. The player will have to hit the ball harder and also strike harder with the racket to get the desired momentum. This might not be a problem, to begin with, but the repeated effort will cause strain on the player’s arm.
Loss of nap
If you have observed a tennis ball closely, they contain a fine layer of thin hair all over them. This is known as nap. Nap causes some amount of air to be trapped within it. This has a considerable effect on how the ball responds to both the racket and the court. Due to repeated usage, the nap might get deformed and over time you might notice that the nap has completely disappeared and the ball is a lot smoother. This changes the way a player hits the ball drastically.
Consistency
The problem occurs when a player has been using an ageing ball for practice and when he finally gets on the court for a match, realises that the ball is not reacting normally as it is a fresh one. Hence it begins to affect the consistency of the player.
Advancements In Tennis Balls
Even though there isn’t longevity, there has not been a lot of upgrades with tennis balls over the years. And that only shows how challenging it is to design a ball that performs well and also lasts a long period.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade in present recollection is the latest release from Wilson. Their Wilson Triniti balls are eco-friendly and not only that, but they have discovered a way to lengthen their liveliness up to four times more than the average tennis balls.
How were they able to do this? The centre of the tennis ball is made of a platomer material which weighs less than any tennis ball currently out. That means they can create the wall thicker, keeping the ball filled with the precise pressure longer. The felt has improved with flexibility, ensuring it a ball to look forward to for the coming future. It does cost a bit of a premium, and it’s still premature to tell if it will be widely accepted or not.
Buying New Balls In Bulk
If theres anything tennis players have learned that buying cans of balls in bulk is the most affordable and most eligible way to go. It’s an expense that no one normally enjoys spending money on, so it’s more convenient to purchase at a slight deduction than to be constrained to purchase at the pro shop near the courts. Those balls normally come with a premium, so try not to keep any new balls there for a certain duration.
All in all, it just makes sense using a new tennis ball for all sessions. Starters may be given a chance with using the same balls for multiple sessions, but average players and up don’t want to be using dead balls.
