Why Are Tennis Balls Yellow?

January 24, 2023

Yellow Tennis Ball on the Court Close up

It seems like tennis balls have always been yellow since that’s the color most of us have likely seen in our lives, but that hasn’t always been the case. Not only has the tennis ball changed color, but many other things have changed about the fuzzy ball over the years.

Tennis has been around since the 1870s and was known as lawn tennis since it was played on a grass surface. It came from an older version called royal or real tennis. In real tennis, the balls were made of stitched leather and stuffed with a soft substance, while in lawn tennis, the balls were made with a rubber core. Eventually, they evolved to a hollow core, and gas was used to pressurize the inside.

The balls have only recently (in modern contexts) been yellow. They used to be black or white, which depended on the color of the court. It wasn’t until 1972 that the International Tennis Federation introduced yellow tennis balls into the official rules of the game.

The reason for the change was because the yellow color of the balls made the ball more visible to viewers watching the game on TV. The color was even known as “optic yellow.” Orange balls had been shown by studies to be the most visible against many backgrounds and surfaces, but they didn’t show up well on television.

The event at Wimbledon continued to use white balls until 1986 when yellow balls were finally adopted there. You can find a number of different colored tennis balls for sale, but the color yellow is the only approved color in professional adult competition.

The original white and black balls were made out of a single sheet of rubber in a three-leaf clover pattern. Over time, and as the demands of the game increased, the balls were made into two half-shells. The color didn’t change again after 1972, but special types of tennis balls were later introduced into the game.

Balls that were approved for high altitude were introduced in 1989, and two other types of ball (Type 1 and Type 3) were introduced in 2002. The Type 1 ball is a fast-speed ball that is slightly harder than the regular ball (Type 2) that is used for a court surface that is considered slow. The Type 3 ball is slower and larger than the regular Type 2 ball and is intended for a faster court. Each type of ball is available to a player based on the court’s location and type.

The color of a tennis ball is just a small part that has changed about tennis balls. The result of the impact on the ball has been studied, and wind tunnels have been used to study the aerodynamic properties of a tennis ball. This research has been used to make a better tennis ball since players have become faster and stronger, rackets and string technology have improved, and court surfaces have become more advanced.

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About the author 

Daniel Ganninger - The writer, editor, and chief lackey of Knowledge Stew, the author of the Knowledge Stew line of trivia books, and editor of Fact World and the Knowledge Stew sister site on Medium, our ad-free subscription sites (you can find out how to join below). I hope you find things here to annoy those around you with your new found knowledge.

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