History of Tennis Ball
Article by Jessica733
The modern tennis ball we use has passed many stages before this modern shape and material. The historians recorded its history dates back to 1300s when French people used to play and the game was known as jeu de paume. At that time the game was much different from the modern tennis. The ball used was made up of wood, but later people used leather and sawdust as filling material. The purpose of using sawdust was to add bounce.
The game was getting popular in Europe and U.K too. People were adopting new styles and methods. Now people of different areas started using balls which had human hairs and putty. In 1480 King of France made a rule that only soft wool (as filling) will be used in tennis balls. Later craftsmen started fabricating the balls. They even used wool wrapped stomach of different animals as ball for tennis. They use to tie it with ropes.
Between 16th and 18th century people also used fur of animals, muscles tied with ropes and pine wood for balls. It was when tennis became popular along with the royal and noblemen. The name of the game changed and it was known as “real tennis”. At that time cork was also used in tennis balls. The modern ball is the innovation of those used in 18th century. At that time the color of the ball was either black or according to the color of the court, but research showed that yellow is the most visible color with diameter of ball 6.7cm. Do notice live tennis with any other colored ball, the ball will even disappear sometimes. In 1920s, the balls were pressurized to get greater bounce and faster speed. This was an innovative step.The international Tennis Federation standardized the tennis ball; shape, diameter, weight and the color. There are approximately 300 million balls are produced annually. Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber and German people invented the vulcanized balls. Nowadays the tennis balls are manufactured in factories and the stuff is known as vulcanized rubber. The ball is covered with felt. There are further two categories in it; Pressurized and Pressure less balls. The pressurized ones contain nitrogen while pressure less has a solid core. The pressurized ones are very good until the pressure last in it while those without pressure are good for training purposes.
Since 2006, the balls used at Australian Open are manufactured by Wilson. In case of U.S Open the ball used is also made by Wilson, but Wimbledon uses the balls made by Slazenger brand since 1902. Tennis balls also vary on the basis of quality. There are three types:
1. Regular Duty Tennis Ball2. Extra Duty Ball3. High Attitude Tennis Ball
The usages of above three qualities depend on the type of surface on which the game is played. Watch live tennis so that you could gain the knowledge about the usage and performance of these qualities.
Jessica Jane is the marketing manager of Scores Pro a best place for tennis livescore of any sports especially soccer live scores, cricket livescore and football liverscore online.