New Balls Please! (Tennis balls - General Comments & Tips)

Member Name: rossmoorlock

Product:	Tennis balls - General Comments & Tips
Date:	23/02/01 (1995 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots to choose from

Disadvantages: Some are not such good quality.

When you think about tennis balls, you would think fluffy yellow things that you hit with a racquet. Well actually you would not be far wrong but tennis balls come in all different types.

There are many different makes of tennis balls such as Penn, Slazenger, Wilson, Head and Dunlop. That is just to name a few.
There is a lot of competition going on between the companies that make the balls. They are battling it out with prices, and quality.

Slazenger
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The organisers of Wimbledon choose to use Slazenger tennis ball. They are quite hard, have a good high bounce, and last for a long time. As they are hard a lot of power can be generated off them, as they don't change shape that much on impact with the racquet.
Slazenger make a few different types.

Indoor Foam Ball
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They make an indoor foam ball, which is very soft and doesn't bounce too high. This type of ball is for beginners when they are just starting out with the game of tennis. These balls are obviously lighter then real tennis balls so that the young children find it easier to hit the ball without hurting their wrists. Young children tend to pick at the foam balls and they tend to become a bit tatty within a few minutes. They are made in bright colours such as pink and bright yellow. They are very safe, as they don't hurt children (or the coach) when they are hit with them. A dozen of these balls would cost about £14.49. That is quite expensive but it's worth it.

Shortex Foam Ball
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These balls are very similar to the ones above but are a little bit harder. They are still soft but have a plastic coating around them so that the ball bounces a bit harder. These balls are used for beginners that are just starting to get some kind of coordination, and are again to be used indoors. Children won't destroy these as easily so they will last a bit longer.
They are a bit
heavier then the ones above, but again are much much lighter then your average tennis ball. A dozen of these tennis balls will cost you £14.99.

LC Outdoor Ball
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These balls are transition balls. This means that they are not as pressurised as normal balls so they are must squidgier and a tiny bit lighter. They don't bounce as high, so coaches use these balls outside for young juniors that are still a little bit short. Basically the ball won't bounce over their heads when they use these balls.
I use these when coaching young juniors between the ages of 7-10.

Slazenger Championship
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These are the tennis balls that are used at Wimbledon. They are excellent balls and last for a long time. They tend to bounce quite high and are very powerful.
I have played with the tennis balls a lot and find them to be really good. I recommend these balls.
For a dozen of these tennis balls you would have to pay around £14 which is not really too bad.

Head
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Head are not that well known for making tennis balls. You don't see them that often and when you do they tend to be on special offer. The quality of them is not quite as good as the other more popular names.
The balls tend to have a lot of fluff on them which takes away some of the power.
These balls are a bit cheaper then other makes and for a dozen you would only have to pay about £10.
If you only play tennis for a little bit of fun and don't play on a regular basis then I would recommend these types of balls to you. They are not top of the range but are still fairly decent tennis balls.

Wilson
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Wilson makes a number of balls and they are used for tournaments like the US Open, so obviously they are a very good ball.
They are similar to the Slazenger but tend to be a little bit more expensive. They are a hard ball and don't get too fluffy once played w
ith, which is always a good sign.
I prefer to use this type of ball indoors, as the power is excellent and they don't get spoiled as quickly as they would if you played with them on say a wet tennis court.

For Wilson US Open tennis balls you would pay about £15 for a dozen, which is quite a lot of money, but I highly recommend these balls.

Penn
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Penn are not very well known for making racquets but do make a good tennis ball.
They make transition balls too and do a good trade in them.
The quality of their balls is very high and they last for a long time.
They also sell reject tennis balls, which are balls that have got mixed up in the factory and have not been stamped with a brand name.
Penn reject balls are good enough for players that don't play that often. But I would not recommend them to any serious players even though the price of £9 a dozen may be slightly tempting.
As for the Penn ATP Tour tennis ball I would recommend this ball to keen aggressive tennis players that like a mixture of power and spin.

Dunlop
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I have found Dunlop tennis balls to be of a very high standard. They don't wear out too quickly and don't get fluffy at all. Dunlop makes a number of different types but are most well known for their Dunlop Fort.
These balls have a hard core so bounce very high and are very powerful. I would recommend these balls to the aggressive young player with powerful racquets. These cost about £13 a dozen which is a very good price.


Cheap and Tacky Tennis Balls
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At you local newsagents they always seem to have cheap tennis balls. In the packet they look, good quality, brightly coloured tennis balls. But there are a number of reasons for why you should not buy them and play tennis with them.
First of all they are not pressurised so when you get them out of the packet they will be very squidgy and won
't bounce very high. This means that you won't get any power on the ball, as the racquet will absorb the power on impact.

The balls don't last very long and soon become very fluffy and rubbish.
So if you are thinking about saving that extra bit of money, don't.
It really is not worth it. You are just as well to get some decent balls that will last you for a long time.


New Technology
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A lot of the above companies are now making tennis balls with a titanium core. This means that the inside of the ball is made out of titanium to make the ball last longer and stay harder for longer.
They are a little bit more expensive then a normal tennis ball but do last a bit longer so I do think that it is worth it.

Ball Machines
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There are not that many ball machines on the market and they tend to be very expensive.
ball machines are used to practice shots without the need of a coach feeding the ball into you. The power on the ball and height and angle can be changed on the machine and they can be very useful.

Tennis Tower
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This is an excellent machine with a 250 ball capcity and ultimate control of any stroke, speed, angle you could ever want. It can even put spin on the ball to make it just like the real thing.
The down side to this machine is the cost.
It would cost you £1295.00. With a remote control we are talking about £1550.00. To me that is way to expensive and i cant see why there are that much.


Tennis Tutor Plus
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These are more basic then the machine above, and are smaller in size. They have good functions and put spin on the ball. They are easy to work and have simple dials.
This would cost you about £1195.00.



When is a tennis ball no longer any use?
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When you think that a tennis ball is not perfm
orming as well as it should, there are a number of reasons for why this might be. Some cheaper makes of tennis balls go very fluffy and therefore don't have a lot of power in them. Also the pressure in the ball may well have gone so you will find that the ball is really easy to squidge and doesn't bounce very high.
There is no point playing with a tennis ball that has any of the above wrong with it. It would be a complete waste of time.
So I suggest that you just throw the ball away or give it to your dog.



My recommendations
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I would recommend the Slazenger, Wilson, Penn or Dunlop balls. They are a class above all of the other makes and you get better value for money.

Never undo the metal pull on a tennis can too long before a tennis match. The balls will become unplayable, as they will be too soft.

Don't try and save money. You need to spend money to get quality, so don't go buying any cheap tack, because i promise you that you will regret it soon after.


I hope that I have helped you to decide what tennis balls you should choose. Some people think that choosing a tennis ball is a remarkably easy thing to do, but you have to think about a lot of things before you get out your money. Always make sure that you read the tube that the balls come in. It may recommend a court surface that is more suited to the balls.

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