What is a tennis ball made out of?
29773#19
Many companies manufacture and distribute tennis rackets. Wilson, Head and Babolat are some of the more commonly used brands; however, many more companies exist. The same companies sponsor players to use these rackets in the hopes that the company name will become more well known by the public.
Tennis balls were originally made of cloth strips stitched together with thread and stuffed with feathers. Modern tennis balls are made of hollow vulcanized rubber with a felt coating. Traditionally white, the predominant colour was gradually changed to optic yellow in the latter part of the 20th century to allow for improved visibility. Tennis balls must conform to certain criteria for size, weight, deformation, and bounce to be approved for regulation play. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) defines the official diameter as . Balls must weigh between . Tennis balls were traditionally manufactured in the United States and Europe. Although the process of producing the balls has remained virtually unchanged for the past 100 years, the majority of manufacturing now takes place in the Far East. The relocation is due to cheaper labour costs and materials in the region.
Tennis
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Before the development of lawn tennis in the early 1870s, the sport was played as the courtly game of real tennis. England banned the importation of tennis balls, playing cards, dice, and other goods in the Act of Parliament Exportation, Importation, Apparel Act 1463. In 1480, Louis XI of France forbade the filling of tennis balls with chalk, sand, sawdust, or earth, and stated that they were to be made of good leather, well-stuffed with wool. Other early tennis balls were made by Scottish craftsmen from a wool-wrapped stomach of a sheep or goat and tied with rope. Those recovered from the hammer-beam roof of Westminster Hall during a period of restoration in the 1920s were found to have been manufactured from a combination of putty and human hair, and were dated to the reign of Henry VIII. Other versions, using materials such as animal fur, rope made from animal intestines and muscles, and pine wood, were found in Scottish castles dating back to the 16th century. In the 18th century, strips of wool were wound tightly around a nucleus made by rolling a number of strips into a little ball. String was then tied in many directions around the ball and a white cloth covering sewn around the ball.
Tennis ball
234582#4
Unlike latex-based technology underlying the modern lawn-tennis ball, the game still uses a cork-based ball very close in design to the original balls used in the game. The diameter balls are handmade and consist of a core made of cork with fabric tape tightly wound around it and covered with a hand-sewn layer of heavy, woven, woollen cloth, traditionally Melton cloth (not felt, which is unwoven and not strong enough to last as a ball covering). The balls are traditionally white, but around the end of the 20th century "optic yellow" was introduced for improved visibility, as had been done years earlier in lawn tennis. The balls are much less bouncy than lawn tennis balls, and weigh about (lawn tennis balls typically weigh 2 ounces).
Real tennis
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Tennis balls begin to lose their bounce as soon as the tennis ball can is opened. They can be tested to determine their bounce. Modern regulation tennis balls are kept under pressure (approximately two atmospheres) until initially used; balls intended for use at high altitudes have a lower initial pressure, and inexpensive practice balls are made without internal pressurization. A ball is tested for bounce by dropping it from a height of onto concrete; a bounce between is acceptable—if taking place at sea-level and with relative humidity of 60%; high-altitude balls have different characteristics when tested at sea-level.
Tennis ball
1577192#6
In the early 1870s lawn tennis arose in Britain through the pioneering efforts of Walter Clopton Wingfield and Harry Gem, often using Victorian lawns laid out for croquet. Wingfield marketed tennis sets, which included rubber balls imported from Germany. After Charles Goodyear invented vulcanised rubber, the Germans had been most successful in developing vulcanised air-filled rubber balls. These were light and coloured grey or red with no covering. John Moyer Heathcote suggested and tried the experiment of covering the rubber ball with flannel, and by 1882 Wingfield was advertising his balls as clad in stout cloth made in Melton Mowbray.
Tennis ball
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In informal games, either a rubber ball or tennis ball is used as an alternative. The rubber ball is not suitable for the variety of surfaces made use of in informal games; it is too bouncy on cement and concrete and barely bounces at all on grass or soil. An unmodified tennis ball is light, but it is incapable of gaining sufficient speed. By covering a tennis ball with electrical tape, the ball's weight and traction are increased, which in turn leads to greater bounce and speed. A tape ball can also be used to mimic a seaming cricket ball by adding an extra layer of tape around the circumference like a seam, the sides can be roughened to mimic conventional swing of a cricket ball. The tape ball is thus a sound compromise between safety and sincerity to the sport.
Tape ball
2084721#0
In tennis, there are a variety of types of shots (ways of hitting the ball) which can be categorized in various ways. The grip you place on will help you have different types of shots, the lower your grip means that the ball is most likely going to be a ground stroke. According to William T. Tilden, "All tennis strokes, should be made with the body' at right angles to the net, with the shoulders lined up parallel to the line of flight of the ball ." The serve is the opening shot of a point. Groundstrokes are hit after the ball has already bounced, and can be either forehands or backhands depending on which direction the racket is swung relative to the body. A lob is a groundstroke hit well over the head of an opponent who is positioned at the net. A passing shot is a groundstroke that is hit out of reach of an opponent at the net far to his left or right. A "cross-court shot" is a shot hit from the left (or right) side of one player's court to the left (or right) side of the other player's court (from each player's own point of view), so that it crosses the lengthwise centerline of the court. A "down-the-line shot" is one that is hit more or less parallel to, and near to, one of the sidelines, so that it never crosses the centerline.
Tennis shots
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Until such time as a special ball is specifically made for elle, tennis balls are used. The fur on the ball could be removed/shaved before use but removing of fur to make the rubber visible is strictly prohibited. A rubber ball or another light ball could be used instead of a tennis ball, but it is of paramount importance that the ball used should be common to both teams.
Elle (sport)
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A tennis backboard is a simple wall usually made from some kind of fiberboard and located at a tennis court. It should have a tennis net either drawn or painted at the proper height. It is designed to allow a single person to practice by hitting a tennis ball against the wall so the ball is returned, much like a second player would return it.
Backboard (tennis)
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The international rules specify that the game is played with a sphere having a mass of and a diameter of . The rules say that the ball shall bounce up when dropped from a height of onto a standard steel block thereby having a coefficient of restitution of 0.89 to 0.92. balls are now made of a polymer instead of celluloid as of 2015, colored white or orange, with a matte finish. The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings. For example, a white ball is easier to see on a green or blue table than it is on a grey table. Manufacturers often indicate the quality of the ball with a star rating system, usually from one to three, three being the highest grade. As this system is not standard across manufacturers, the only way a ball may be used in official competition is upon ITTF approval (the ITTF approval can be seen printed on the ball).
Table tennis