The tennis ball as we know it is 52 years old. Yes. Tennis is a sport that has been around for centuries. Its origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and it was played widely in the Baroque period before becoming institutionalized as a sport in the 19th century thanks to the genius of Major Wingfield or Augurio Perera (or both). And yes, there were always balls in play, of course, because although the net can be ‘imagined’, the court is not marked and the exchange can be done with many types of racquet or even without, but without a ball going from one player to another there is no tennis.
In 2022, when the current ball model turned half a century there were, according to tennis materials expert Goyo Ybort, 290 models under the label of 54 different brands approved by the International Tennis Federation. Until 1989, only one ball model was allowed. In that year, balls adapted to play at height were admitted and today there are eight types accepted. But, in all of them, the weight must be between 56 and 59.4 grams, its diameter between 6.54 and 7.3 centimeters and its bounce must be between 1.35 and 1.47 meters when it falls from a height of 2.54 meters.
What color are tennis balls?
They all have another common characteristic: they share a color, called optical yellow, which in 1972 was adopted by the ITF – hence the ‘age’ of the current ball. Before that, the balls were white or black depending on the playing surface. White balls are still manufactured. There are also red, orange and green balls – designed for beginners. There are also customized balls in pink, purple, black or different shades of blue. But in all official senior tournaments the ball is yellow.
The change in color happened due to the demands of television transmissions. In 1972 television was already in color all over the world (although in Spain it was not generalized until five or six years later). At the end of the 1960s, the person in charge of the BBC broadcasts (which, of course, was in charge of Wimbledon) was the renowned documentary filmmaker David Attenborough. And he noticed that the visibility of the traditional white ball was not perfect, especially if it approached the lines of the rectangle of play.
Why did television change the color of tennis balls?
In that year of 1972, tennis was in full growth: the professional and amateur circuits had unified and women’s professional tennis was also growing. Tennis was becoming a great world spectacle and in this context television was fundamental. The International Tennis Federation, in charge of the rules, commissioned a study which showed that the yellow ball was more visible and therefore easier for viewers to follow. The courts, moreover, began to be multicolored once the use of synthetic materials in official tournaments was approved.
And a rule was passed that all balls had to have a uniform yellow or white surface. As Argentine tennis historian Eduardo Puppo explained, other colors were tested in that study, but the conditions of the television image and the color of the different surfaces imposed yellow. White, moreover, tended to get dirty, especially on clay courts.
White continued to be used for a few more years in some competitions, such as the Davis Cup or the old Wimbledon, which resisted the change until 1986, as it did not hold its finals on Sundays until the television networks compensated it adequately.
Thus, until the 1970s and for almost a century, tennis balls were white or black. Today they are yellow, although some recalcitrant still speak of ‘green’. And the reason is technological and commercial: it allows us to see, and therefore to sell, tennis better.