What is a tennis ball made out of?
Tennis
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Tennis balls were originally made of cloth strips stitched together with thread and stuffed with feathers.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.
Table tennis
The wooden portion of the racket, often referred to as the "blade", commonly features anywhere between one and seven plies of wood, though cork, glass fiber, carbon fiber, aluminum fiber, and Kevlar are sometimes used. According to the ITTF regulations, at least 85% of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood. Common wood types include balsa, limba, and cypress or "hinoki", which is popular in Japan. The average size of the blade is about long and wide, although the official restrictions only focus on the flatness and rigidity of the blade itself, these dimensions are optimal for most play styles.
String (structure)
In tennis, the strings are the part of a tennis racquet which make contact with the ball. The strings form a woven network inside the head (or "hoop") of the racquet. Strings have been made with a variety of materials and possess varying properties that have been measured, such as dynamic stiffness, tension retention, thickness (gauge), string texture (shape of the string), and rebound efficiency.
Racket (sports equipment)
The frame of rackets for all sports was traditionally made of solid wood (later laminated wood) and the strings of animal intestine known as catgut. The traditional racket size was limited by the strength and weight of the wooden frame which had to be strong enough to hold the strings and stiff enough to hit the ball or shuttle. Manufacturers started adding non-wood laminates to wood rackets to improve stiffness. Non-wood rackets were made first of steel, then of aluminum, and then carbon fiber composites. Wood is still used for real tennis, rackets, and xare. Most rackets are now made of composite materials including carbon fiber or fiberglass, metals such as titanium alloys, or ceramics.
Paddle tennis
The paddle is made of solid material such as wood or a composite of a rubberized or titanium core covered with graphite, and contains no strings. It is usually textured or perforated and may have a metal rim around the head. Its dimensions are limited to 18" in length and 9.5" in width.
Paddle ball
The paddle is similar in size and shape to a table tennis racket. It is usually made from either wood or plastic, although other materials can be used.
2012 ITF Men's Circuit
The tournaments are played on a rectangular flat surface, commonly referred to as a tennis court. The dimenstion of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the ITF and the court is long, wide. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay, hard, grass and carpet courts with the ITF classifying five different pace settings ranging from slow to fast.Countries that are hosting a tournament in 2012, but did not in 2011.
History of tennis
The Medieval form of tennis is termed as real tennis, a game that evolved over three centuries, from an earlier ball game played around the 12th century in France which involved hitting a ball with a bare hand and later with a glove. By the 16th century, the glove had become a racquet, the game had moved to an enclosed playing area, and the rules had stabilized. Real tennis spread in popularity throughout royalty in Europe, reaching its peak in the 16th century.
Howard Head
After retiring, Head decided to take tennis lessons and for this purpose he got himself a tennis ball machine, which was manufactured by Prince Manufacturing Inc. Although Howard was not very good at tennis, he figured out that the equipment for the game needed a lot of improvement or he was going to need a lot more practice. To begin with he became the majority shareholder and chairman of the board of Prince. While Head considerably improved the design of the ball machine, he still did not get any better at the game. He figured it out that it was because of the small sweet-spot of the tennis racquet. In order to make the game of tennis easier, Head came up with the design of oversized racquet. He filed and obtained a patent that covered tennis racquets with size 95–135 square inches. He also pioneered the development of the graphite racquet, which eventually became the industry standard, replacing wooden racquets.
Penn Racquet Sports
Penn was chosen as the official tennis ball of the US Professional Tennis Association in 1973. Penn racquetballs are the official balls of the IRT and U.S. Racquetball Association.
Clay court
A clay court is one of many different types of tennis court. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone, brick, or other unbound mineral aggregates. The French Open uses clay courts, making it unique among the Grand Slam tournaments. Clay courts are more common in Continental Europe and Latin America than in North America, Asia or Britain. Two main types exist: red clay, the more common variety, and green clay, also known as "rubico", which is a harder surface. Although less expensive to construct than other types of tennis courts, the maintenance costs of clay are high as the surface must be rolled to preserve flatness.
2013 ITF Men's Circuit
The tournaments are played on a rectangular flat surface, commonly referred to as a tennis court. The dimenstion of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the ITF and the court is long, wide. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay, hard, grass and carpet courts with the ITF classifying five different pace settings ranging from slow to fast.
Countries that are hosting a tournament in 2013, but did not in 2012.
Polybutadiene
Most golf balls are made of an elastic core of polybutadiene surrounded by a layer of a harder material. Polybutadiene is preferred to other elastomers due to its high resilience.
Tennis technology
Early rackets were made of wood, which was not as good as modern materials, since wood has inconsistencies, resulting in different feels when striking the ball. Wood rackets needed a brace to stop warping when not in use. Later designs used metals, with experimenting with metals such as aluminum, magnesium and titanium.
Pallone
Balls are struck back and forth with a wooden cylinder, called a "bracciale", worn over the forearm: if carelessly played, a broken arm can result because a bracciale can weigh 2 kilograms or 1 k in different version. Originally the ball was inflated, but now a hard rubber ball is used: this ball has circumference of 39 centimetres and weighs 350 grams or 750 gr in ancient version. Scoring is by fifteens and tens, as in tennis, in this manner: 15 – 30 – 40 – 50 or victory of a game but early was 15 – 30 – 45 – 60; the team which wins 12 games is final winner of the match. A notable feature is that the ball is put into play by a designated server, called the "mandarino", who otherwise is not part of the game. The receivers can reject serves at will. Pallone is often played on courts marked out on town streets.
Babolat
Babolat is a French tennis, badminton, and squash equipment company, headquartered in Lyon, best known for its strings and tennis racquets which are used by several top players. The company has made strings since 1875, when Pierre Babolat created the first strings made of natural gut. Babolat continued to focus on strings until 1994, when it became a "total tennis" company, producing also racquet frames and selling them in Europe. It then expanded sales to Japan, and later to the United States in 2000. Sales of Babolat racquets increased rapidly in North America and Europe. Babolat is also a pioneer in connected sport technology and launched a connected tennis racket in 2014 and a connected wrist-worn tennis wearable with PIQ in 2015. The Babolat Pop is used worldwide, and one of the leaders in tennis sensors.
Adidas Jabulani
The ball was constructed consisting of eight (down from 14 in the 2006 World Cup) thermally bonded, three-dimensional panels. These then were spherically moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The surface of the ball was textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called "Grip 'n' Groove" that was intended to improve the ball's aerodynamics. The design had received considerable academic input, being developed in partnership with researchers from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
Bouncy ball
Solid rubber balls such as the Spaldeen (a corruption of Spalding, the manufacturer), about the size of a tennis ball and often colored pink, have been manufactured since the 1930s and remain so into the 21st century. They were fundamental to the development of American street games such as stickball, in addition to other uses in play. Other manufacturers have made similar balls, such as the Pensie Pinkie.
Hardcourt
Tennis hard courts are made of synthetic/acrylic layers on top of a concrete or asphalt foundation and can vary in color. These courts tend to play medium-fast to fast because there is little energy absorption by the court, like in grass courts. The ball tends to bounce high and players are able to apply many types of spin during play. Flat balls are favored on hard courts because of the extremely quick play style. Speed of rebound after tennis balls bounce on hard courts is determined by how much sand is in the synthetic/acrylic layer placed on top of the asphalt foundation. More sand will result in a slower bounce due to more friction.
Paddle tennis
Paddle tennis is a game adapted from tennis and played for over a century. Compared to tennis, the court is smaller and has no doubles lanes, and the net is lower. Paddle tennis is played with a solid paddle as opposed to a strung racquet, and a depressurized tennis ball is used.
Table tennis racket
Players have many choices and variations in rubber sheets on their racket. Although a racket may be purchased assembled with rubber by the manufacturer, most serious tournament players will use a custom racket. A player selects a blank blade (i.e., a racket without rubber) based on his or her playing style. The type of wood or synthetic layers used to make up the blade will determine the blade's speed. The different types of rubber sheets affect the level of spin, speed, and other specific playing characteristics. Racket construction and new rubber technology contribute significantly to the amount of deviation from the expected ball flight path.
Racket (sports equipment)
Table tennis uses a table tennis racket made from laminated wood covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player. Unlike a conventional racket, it does not contain strings strung across an open frame. This is called either a paddle, racket, or a bat, with usage differing by region. In the USA the term "paddle" is common, in Europe the term is "bat", and the official ITTF term is "racket."
Totem tennis
Totem tennis, tether tennis, or swingball is a game usually played informally. It has a pole, called the totem, with a tennis or sponge ball on a string attached to it. The pole is either driven into soft ground or anchored with a heavy base. Players use racquets to hit the ball around the pole. 
Tether tennis has been known since early 1900s.
Nitrate
Explosives and table tennis balls are made from celluloid. In the early 20th century, most motion picture film was made of nitrocellulose, but the intense flammability of the film led to it being replaced with "safety film" by the mid-20th-century.
Baseball (ball)
A baseball is a ball used in the sport of the same name. The ball features a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn, and covered, in the words of the Official Baseball Rules "with two strips of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together." It is 9–9 inches (229–235mm) in circumference (–in. or 73–75mm in diameter), and masses from 5 to 5oz. (142 to 149g). The yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile (1.6 km) in length. Some are wrapped in a plastic-like covering.
Plexicushion
Plexicushion is an acrylic-based hardcourt tennis surface and one of the surface types used on the professional Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association tours. It is manufactured and sold by sports surfaces division of California Products Corporation, a company based in Andover, Massachusetts, United States.
Beach tennis
Beach tennis merges the world of beach volleyball and tennis. It is related to beach volleyball but played with a tennis ball and paddle racket. The court is a standard beach volleyball court that is 30 feet wide and 60 feet long. There is a center line that splits the court lengthwise. At the center of the court is a 5-foot-10-inch-high (1.78 m) net. A standard tennis racquet or a paddle and a slightly depressurized tennis ball (6 oz instead of 12 oz) are used.
Four wall paddleball
Other sports (notably paddle tennis) used paddles, but the ball proved more difficult to create. Riskey found that if the fuzzy surface was removed from a tennis ball, the resulting ball had a suitable bounce for the game. Dime-store rubber balls were also used. The choice of ball remains one of the most contentious issues of the sport today. There are standard paddleballs (made by Ektelon), but the sport is also played with a racquetball. This difference changes how the game is played. For instance, when playing with a standard paddleball the ceiling ball is an impractical shot; however, when playing with a racquetball the ceiling ball is the shot of choice.
Squash tennis
Required equipment is fairly simple and inexpensive: junior tennis racquets and standard lawn tennis ball. In decades past, modified tennis balls were manufactured for the game. They had higher pressure and were slightly smaller than tennis balls. The last specially manufactured ball was green, so that it could be more easily seen against white walls. Early courts had dark wood walls so that white tennis balls could be seen. Players now either use a marker to darken a yellow ball, or use colored tennis balls (such as the pink ball sold on a limited basis by Penn to raise money for breast cancer research). Blue painter's tape can be used to add the additional lines on the floor and back wall of squash racquets courts.
Table tennis
The table is long, wide, and high with any continuous material so long as the table yields a uniform bounce of about when a standard ball is dropped onto it from a height of , or about . The table or playing surface is uniformly dark coloured and matte, divided into two halves by a net at in height. The ITTF approves only wooden tables or their derivates. Concrete tables with a steel net or a solid concrete partition are sometimes available in outside public spaces, such as parks.
Tennis games
This game requires that there is a wall behind both baselines on the court. 4 individual players take the court with 2 on each side positioned at the baseline. Any extra players will line up by the net post as substitutes. The game also requires a feeder, one who will stand out of the game with a large basket of balls quickly putting a new ball into play once the previous ball is out of play. When the game begins, the 4 players on the court rally the ball back and forth with freedom of mobility and aggressiveness. Each player's main goal is to not be eliminated from the game by falling to a winner (a ball that bounces on the player's court twice). When an individual player mishits the ball, the player is substituted with the next person in line while the feeder immediately puts a ball into play to the opposite (unharmed) side. When a winner is hit, the player within whose court the ball lands (half the court being divided vertically as well), this player is eliminated from the game (it is also popular that a super-shot, or a winner hit through the middle of the court without a definite decision to which player is eliminated, results in both players on that side being eliminated from the game). As more eliminations occur the number of substitutes decrease. When only 4 players remain in the game (no substitutes) a mistake is penalized with the player running back and touching the wall behind the baseline while a ball is put into play in the opposite side allowing the other duo to hit a winner. With 3 players remaining, the same rules apply but the single player only needs to defend a singles court. When 2 players remain, they can decide between themselves to touch the wall, or any other penalty (Dropping the racquet and spinning a full circle is a popular penalty). With that set rule, the 2 players play on a complete singles court until one player remains to be designated the winner. Once a new game begins, the highest ranking players from the previous game usually begin as the substitutes with the winner substituting last, and the runner-up substituting next to last etc. This game is designed to work on the advanced skill of consistency after running to a shot, shot placement, and builds stamina.
Cricket ball
A cricket ball is made with a core of cork, which is layered with tightly wound string, and covered by a leather case with a slightly raised sewn seam. In a top-quality ball suitable for the highest levels of competition, the covering is constructed of four pieces of leather shaped similar to the peel of a quartered orange, but one hemisphere is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the other. The "equator" of the ball is stitched with string to form the ball's prominent seam, with six rows of stitches. The remaining two joins between the leather pieces are stitched internally forming the quarter seam. Lower-quality balls with a two-piece covering are also popular for practice and lower-level competition due to their lower cost.
Wilson Sporting Goods
Aside from tennis rackets, the Wilson sporting goods company also makes tennis balls (including the official balls of the Australian Open and US Open major championships), shoes, balls, strings, clothes, and racquet bags.
10 and Under Tennis
Explains 10 and Under Tennis balls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnf39eDe2KU
Tennis technology
The earliest strings were made from cow intestines ("natural gut"), a reliable string but very expensive. With time and improved technology manufacturers have been trying to duplicate the natural gut feel with synthetic materials. Also, manufacturers are creating strings that are designed to produce more spin, power, and durability. It remains unclear whether the technological innovations in materials, product architecture, and size affected the performance of players, even if such innovations are controversial and even contested by sport-regulatory bodies. The prevailing standards are as much due to advancements in musical string technology as to the social construction of the racket by the tennis playing public and the manufacturers who furnish the sporting goods. Social construction refers to the framing or interpretation of the physical implement by the community of tennis players some of whom often challenged the putative benefits of certain strings or other aspects of the racket.
Waboba
The ball composition is made of different types of Polyurethane covered in Lycra, allowing it to bounce on water and float. Its patented design and durability gives Waboba its quality. To bounce the ball on the water, one must throw like skipping a rock. The ball bounces high on the water in between players when thrown at the right angle (overhand) with the right force.[1] The ball does not bounce on land.
Tennis ball cricket
In this game a more difficult version of tennis ball is used. The number of overs in the game varies from six to twenty-five. Considering that the ball is not as hard as the professional cricket ball, the use of protective gear like gloves, pads and helmets is optional. In most cases in this form sometimes, the ground may be a street or a compound. In such scenarios there may be a rule of pitching catch or inside house out etc. The tennis balls used in this game in India is NODENS, Cosco or Vicky. In other countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, they use Wilson or Slazenger. This is the only form of cricket where the rules of real cricket do not apply as they normally would. Tennis ball cricket has allowed to a spare runner for batsman injured time.
Tennis for Two
Tennis for Two (also known as Computer Tennis) is a sports video game, which simulates a game of tennis, and was one of the first games developed in the early history of video games. American physicist William Higinbotham designed the game in 1958 for display at the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition after learning that the government research institution's Donner Model 30 analog computer could simulate trajectories with wind resistance. He designed the game, displayed on an oscilloscope and played with two custom aluminum controllers, in a few hours, after which he and technician Robert V. Dvorak built it over three weeks. The game's visuals show a representation of a tennis court viewed from the side, and players adjust the angle of their shots with a knob on their controller and try to hit the ball over the net by pressing a button.
2015 ITF Men's Circuit
The tournaments are played on a rectangular flat surface, commonly referred to as a tennis court. The dimension of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the ITF and the court is long, wide. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay, hard, grass and carpet courts with the ITF classifying five different pace settings ranging from slow to fast.
Rebound Ace
Rebound Ace is a cushioned tennis hardcourt composed of polyurethane rubber, fiberglass, and other materials on top of an asphalt or reinforced concrete base. It is manufactured by California Products Corporation's Sports Surfaces division.
1877 Wimbledon Championship
The origin of tennis lies in the monastic cloisters in 12th-century France, where the ball was struck with the palm of the hand in a game called "jeu de paume". Rackets were introduced to the game in the early 16th century. This original version of tennis, now called "real tennis", was mostly played indoors and popular among the royalty and gentry, while a crude outdoor version called "longue paume" was played by the populace. The prominence of the game declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, although there are sporadic mentions of a "long tennis" or "field tennis" version in the second half of the 18th century.
Adidas Stan Smith
In 1963 (or in 1964), the first Adidas tennis shoe was produced, which was the first ever leather tennis shoe and marked the beginning of a long line of classic Adidas shoes. The upper part of the shoe is made of white leather, whereas the pimpled outer sole is made of rubber. The inner sole is made of synthetic material. It was Horst Dassler, the son of Adolf "Adi" Dassler – the founder of Adidas, who had the idea of the first leather tennis shoe. In 1965, this tennis shoe model was named the "adidas Robert Haillet" after the French tennis professional Robert Haillet. When Haillet retired from tennis, Adidas and Horst Dassler decided to find another tennis player that could endorse the tennis shoe model. Donald Dell, an American tennis manager, suggested Stan Smith, who took the offer in order to obtain royalties for the use of his name. For Adidas, the shoe became a market opener in the United States. In 1967, a green foam padding was added at the back of the shoe for Achilles tendon protection.
DecoTurf
DecoTurf is a tennis hardcourt constructed from layers of acrylic, rubber, silica, and other materials on top of an asphalt or concrete base. It is manufactured by the sports surfaces division of California Products Corporation, based in Andover, Massachusetts.
Grass court
A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament.
Tennis ball
Each year approximately 325 million balls are produced, which contributes roughly of waste in the form of rubber that is not easily biodegradable. Historically, tennis ball recycling has not existed. However, in 2015 three companies (Advanced Polymer Technology, Ace Surfaces and reBounces) joined together to create a recycling system that incorporates recycled tennis balls into a tennis court surface. Unlikely though it may seem, balls from The Championships, Wimbledon are now recycled to provide field homes for the nationally threatened Eurasian harvest mouse.
Bouncy ball
A superball or power ball is a bouncy ball of composed of a type of synthetic rubber (originally a hard elastomer Polybutadiene alloy named Zectron) invented in 1964, with has a higher coefficient of restitution (0.92) than older balls such as the Spaldeen, so that when dropped from moderate height onto a level hard surface, it wall bounce nearly all the way back up. They were first sold by the Wham-O toy company under the name Super Ball, which remains their trademark. Superballs are often smaller than a Spaldeen.
Elle (sport)
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.
History of tennis
In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designed and patented an hourglass-shaped tennis court in order to obtain a patent on his court (as the rectangular court was already in use), was unpatentable by him. A temporary patent on his hourglass-shaped court was granted to him in February, 1874, which he never renewed when it expired in 1877. It is commonly believed, mistakenly, that Wingfield obtained a patent on the game he devised to be played on that type of court, but in fact Wingfield never applied for nor received a patent on his game, although he did obtain a copyright — but not a patent — on his rules for playing it. And, after a running series of articles and letters in the British sporting magazine "The Field", and a meeting at London's Marylebone Cricket Club, the official rules of lawn tennis were promulgated by that Club in 1875, which preserved none of the aspects of the variations that Wingfield had dreamed up and called "Sphaeristikè" (, that is, "sphere-istic", an ancient Greek adjective meaning "of or pertaining to use of a ball, globe or sphere"), which was soon corrupted to "sticky". Wingfield claimed that he had invented his version of the game for the amusement of his guests at a weekend garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales in 1874, but research has demonstrated that even his game was not likely played during that country weekend in Wales. He had likely based his game on both the evolving sport of outdoor tennis and on real tennis. Much of modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, for Wingfield and others borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of real tennis, and applied them to their variations of real tennis. In the scholarly work "Tennis: A Cultural History", Heiner Gillmeister reveals that on December 8 1874, Wingfield had wrote to Harry Gem, commenting that he’d been experimenting with his version of lawn tennis for a year and a half. Gem himself had largely credited Perera with the invention of the game.
Tennis technology
Originally the tennis ball consisted of rough cloth strips tightly bound together. Eventually the cloth strips became the core, wrapped in twine and covered by a finer cloth or felt hand-stitched around it. In 1972, at the request of Lamar Hunt to televise World Championship Tennis, the tennis ball was manufactured with the optic yellow felt. Now Yellow tennis balls are mass-produced for high performance at minimal costs.
Golf equipment
A tee is an object (wooden or plastic) that is pushed into or placed on the ground to rest a ball on top of for an easier shot; however, this is only allowed for the first stroke ("tee shot" or "drive") of each hole. Conventional golf tees are basically spikes with a small cup on the head to hold the ball, and are usually made of wood or plastic. Wooden tees are generally very inexpensive and quite disposable; a player may damage or break many of these during the course of a round. Plastic tees are generally more expensive but last longer. The length of tees varies according to the club intended to be used and by personal preference; longer tees (3-3.5") allow the player to position the ball higher off the ground while remaining stable when planted, and are generally used for modern deep-faced woods. They can be planted deeper for use with other clubs but then tend to break more often. Shorter tees (1.5-2.5") are suitable for irons and are more easily inserted and less easily broken than long tees. Other designs of tee exist; the "step tee" is milled or molded with a spool-shaped upper half, and so generally provides a consistent ball height from shot to shot. The "brush tee" uses a collection of stiff bristles instead of a cup to position the ball; the design is touted by its manufacturer as providing less interference to the ball or club at impact, for a straighter, longer flight.
Paleta Frontón
A wooden, carbon fiber or glass fiber paddle and a black rubber ball are required to play paleta frontón. The court contains a concrete wall high by wide. There are lines on the court limiting the play area and marking the reception zones, similar to tennis. The paddle is made from Peruvian oak typically logged near water based townships. The chopping of the tree is a celebration for younger males becoming men. The celebration is a seven-day festival.
Times Square Ball
The ball's design has been updated over the years to reflect improvements in lighting technology; the ball was initially constructed from wood and iron, and lit with 100 incandescent light bulbs. The current incarnation features a computerized LED lighting system and an outer surface consisting of triangular crystal panels. These panels contain inscriptions representing a yearly theme. Since 2009, the current ball has been displayed atop One Times Square year-round, while the original, smaller version of the current ball that was used in 2008 has been on display inside the Times Square visitor's center.
Tennis
The components of a tennis racket include a handle, known as the grip, connected to a neck which joins a roughly elliptical frame that holds a matrix of tightly pulled strings. For the first 100 years of the modern game, rackets were made of wood and of standard size, and strings were of animal gut. Laminated wood construction yielded more strength in rackets used through most of the 20th century until first metal and then composites of carbon graphite, ceramics, and lighter metals such as titanium were introduced. These stronger materials enabled the production of oversized rackets that yielded yet more power. Meanwhile, technology led to the use of synthetic strings that match the feel of gut yet with added durability.
Under modern rules of tennis, the rackets must adhere to the following guidelines;The rules regarding rackets have changed over time, as material and engineering advances have been made. For example, the maximum length of the frame had been until 1997, when it was shortened to .
Wilson Sporting Goods
In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open, and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls.
Tennis technology
In 1968, Spalding launched an aluminium racquet, called "The Smasher". Aluminium is lighter and more flexible than steel, but stiffer - and therefore less accurate - than wood. Because of this, most of the top players still preferred to use wooden frames - and a decade later they were still in use.
Lacrosse ball
Guardian recently developed a new ball—the Pearl—made entirely of polyurethane. According to its website, it was named the official ball of U.S. Lacrosse in July 2016. Traditional lacrosse balls are made from vulcanized rubber. Guardian said that these balls are filled with oils and plasticizers that separate over time and leach onto the surface of the ball, causing it to harden and become greasy. East Coast Dyes provides the Mint, a lacrosse ball that does not become hard and slippery over time and also meets the NOCSAE standards calling for a softer ball, which will go into effect no early than June 2017.
Strings (tennis)
Multi-filament strings, known commonly as "multis" are strings that have more than one filament. They are most commonly made of many filaments of nylon, but can incorporate other materials such as polyurethane, Zyex, Vectran, Kevlar, and other materials. Multi-filament strings offer better elasticity than single filament strings, but usually inferior durability. No multi-filament string holds its tension as well as natural gut, and none of them is as soft.
Paddle tennis
Platform tennis is a similar sport, which was invented in 1928 in Scarsdale, New York, USA by James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard. The primary difference from paddle tennis is that the platform tennis court is 6 feet shorter, fenced by taut chicken wire off which the ball can be played. Platform tennis uses a solid sponge rubber ball and overhead serving is permitted. Platform tennis is popular in the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S., since the raised court (the platform) can be heated for winter play.
Table tennis
The next major innovation was by James W. Gibb, a British enthusiast of table tennis, who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the US in 1901 and found them to be ideal for the game. This was followed by E.C. Goode who, in 1901, invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled, or stippled, rubber to the wooden blade. Table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 to the extent that tournaments were being organized, books being written on the subject, and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902.
Penn Racquet Sports
Penn was the first tennis ball manufacturer to use pressurized cans to keep balls "fresh" and the first to use the now-standard fluorescent green color.
Tennis ball
Tennis balls are filled with air and are surfaced by a uniform felt-covered rubber compound. The felt delays flow separation in the boundary layer which reduces aerodynamic drag and gives the ball better flight properties. Often the balls will have a number on them in addition to the brand name. This helps distinguish one set of balls from another of the same brand on an adjacent court.
Juggling ball
Beanbags are the most common type of juggling ball. Juggling beanbags are typically constructed with an outer shell made from several pieces of vinyl or microfiber (imitation leather), and filled with millet, birdseed, plastic pellets, sand, crushed rock, ground rubber, or other material designed to give the beanbag bulk. Beanbags come in a variety of colors, the most common being "beach" (a combination of 4 panels colored red, yellow, blue and green), white, and other combinations of colors that are easily visible. Beanbags are preferred by many jugglers because beanbags don't bounce or roll when dropped, are caught the most easily, and have reasonable pricing and availability. Beanbags are generally found in sizes ranging from 2.5"-3" in diameter, with weights of 90-130g. Smaller beanbags with less filling in them are sometimes used by numbers jugglers, who require a smaller and lighter ball so they can throw and catch many balls using the same hand. 
Stage Balls are often used during juggling performances. Stage balls have a polished outer shell, typically made of plastic or hard rubber, and are hollow. For this reason, stage balls can be manufactured to a greater diameter than beanbags, whilst maintaining a more manageable weight for the juggler. Furthermore, stage balls hold their shape and color better than beanbags making them a more visual prop. Stage balls, however, tend to roll away when dropped, and therefore are not commonly used during practice. Stage balls are generally found in sizes ranging from 2.5"-4" in diameter, though many performers such as Sergej Ignatov have used balls larger than 4" when performing for extra dramatic effect.
Soft tennis
Soft tennis is a racket game played on a court of two halves, separated by a net. Like regular tennis, it is played by individuals (singles) or pairs (doubles), whose object is to hit the ball over the net, landing within the confines of the court, with the aim of preventing one's opponent from being able to hit it back. Soft tennis differs from regular tennis in that it uses soft rubber balls instead of hard yellow balls.
2012 ITF Men's Circuit (January–March)
The tournaments are played on a rectangular flat surface, commonly referred to as a tennis court. The dimenstion of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the ITF and the court is long, wide. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay, hard, grass and carpet courts with the ITF classifying five different pace settings ranging from slow to fast.
Real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (originally called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United States, formerly royal tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in France (a reference to the older, racquetless game of "jeu de paume", the ancestor of modern handball and racquet games; many French real tennis courts are at "jeu de paume" clubs).
Tennis
Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and wide for singles matches and for doubles matches. Additional clear space around the court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with the baselines, dividing it into two equal ends. It is held up by either a metal cable or cord that can be no more than . The net is high at the posts and high in the center. The net posts are outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net, outside the singles court on each side.
Pickleball
Pickleball is a paddle sport (similar to a racquet sport) that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a Wiffle Ball, over a net. The sport shares features of other racquet sports, the dimensions and layout of a badminton court, and a net and rules somewhat similar to tennis, with several modifications. Pickleball was invented in the mid 1960s as a children's backyard pastime.
GreenSet
GreenSet is an acrylic hardcourt surface used in many professional tennis events run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and on the ATP and WTA tours. It is made of layers of acrylic resin and silica on top of an asphalt or concrete base, for permanent facilities, or on top of a wooden platform, for venues with occasional use.
Laykold
Laykold is a tennis hardcourt constructed over an asphalt or concrete base. It can be constructed without cushion or with a cushion layer (Laykold Cushion Plus) for better force reduction and longer player longevity. Court surfaces are made of various materials including rubber, silica, and acrylic resin. Laykold is manufactured by Advanced Polymer Technology, based in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
Strings (tennis)
Natural gut is produced by drying fibers extracted from a part of the cow intestine called the serous membrane, or serosa, which contains collagen designed to withstand the stretching and contraction of the intestine. It is this elasticity that makes the fibers useful for tennis string. Sheep intestines have also been used for racquet strings in the past.
Tennis (paper game)
Tennis is an (abstract) strategic pencil and paper game for two players. The game field consists of 4 fields and a centre line. These are called (-2,-1,0,1,2), with negative numbers belonging to player 1, positive to player 2. At start, the ball is at the centre line (0).
2013 ITF Men's Circuit (October–December)
The tournaments are played on a rectangular flat surface, commonly referred to as a tennis court. The dimenstion of a tennis court are defined and regulated by the ITF and the court is long, wide. Its width is for singles matches and for doubles matches. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay, hard, grass and carpet courts with the ITF classifying five different pace settings ranging from slow to fast.
Tennis games
At least eight players are needed for this game. Two players start on the baseline, the back line of the tennis court, of each side with the court split in half vertically. Two tennis balls are played simultaneously on each half of the court starting with a drop hit. A drop hit is an underhand hit by bouncing the ball first. Once one player loses a point on his or her side of the court, they call out “One ball live!” and the single remaining ball is played out among the four players with the court no longer split down the middle. The team that wins this point stays, while two new players on the other side replace the losing team and the game starts over with two balls. The first team to reach ten points wins. This game is designed for use in practicing groundstrokes, the forehand and backhand, at first and then doubles strategy once "One ball live" is called.
Palla
Small handmade balls contain a lead pellet wrapped in rubber and wool with a leather cover. The game is played by facing teams who strike (not catch) the ball with either a bare or gloved hand. Courts are marked out with painted lines on town streets, but there is no net, and players can move between sides. Adjacent buildings, objects, and sometimes spectators, are considered "in play." Play does stop for oncoming automobiles. Similar to real tennis, a second bounce can result in a "chase" rather than an outright point, marked in chalk where the ball stops rolling.
Tennis ball
The ITF's "Play and Stay" campaign aims to increase tennis participation worldwide, by improving the way starter players are introduced to the game. The ITF recommends a progression that focuses on a range of slower balls and smaller court sizes to introduce the game effectively to both adults and children. The slowest balls, marked with red, or using half red felt, are oversized and unpressurized, or made from foam rubber. The next, in orange, are unpressurized normal sized balls. The last, with green, are half pressured normal sized.
Penn Racquet Sports
In 1960, Penn invents a more durable felt cover for the tennis ball by weaving New Zealand wool and artificial fibers together.
Outline of tennis
Tennis – sport usually played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a specialized racquet that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court.Types of tennis match
Tamburello
Indoor is practiced in an enclosed space such as a sports hall or a school gym on a small field and each team has maximum 8 players of which 3 simultaneously in the field. The ball in this case cannot be made of rubber, because too fast, and then using the tennis ball type depressurized. This is the tamburello's form more prevalent among the world: they play at least in 20 nations.
Freeport Area of Bataan
The tennis balls used in the Wimbledon Grand Slam are made in FAB.
Golf ball
In the mid-1960s, a new synthetic resin, an ionomer of ethylene acid named Surlyn, was introduced (by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company), as were new urethane blends for golf ball covers, and these new materials soon displaced balata as they proved more durable and more resistant to cutting. Along with various other materials that came into use to replace the rubber-wound internal sphere, golf balls came to be classified as either two-piece, three-piece, or four-piece balls according to the number of layered components. These basic materials continue to be used in modern balls, with further advances in technology creating balls that can be customized to a player's strengths and weaknesses, and even allowing for the combination of characteristics that were formerly mutually-exclusive.
Adidas
Adidas has been involved with tennis equipment since the mid 1960s and has historically sponsored many top tennis players, beginning with two of the most dominant male tennis players at the start of the professional era in the late 1960s, Stan Smith and Ilie Nastase. During the 1980s and 1990s, not only were they exclusive apparel and footwear sponsors of world number one men's tennis players Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg and ladies' world number one Steffi Graf but each player had their own, exclusive graphic styles designed for their use during play, which were in turn marketed to the general public. Ivan Lendl even spent the vast majority of his dominant career playing with several different models of Adidas tennis racquets, primarily using the legendary Adidas GTX-Pro and then later the Adidas GTX Pro-T. The company recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model.
Pete Sampras Tennis
There are only three surfaces to choose from (Grass, Hard and Clay). Although the surfaces are not sufficiently differentiated to impinge on AI or player tactics, the bounce of the ball is lowest on Grass and highest on Clay, with Hard intermediate. There are several places where matches and tournaments in the Huge Tour take place, and they are accurate on the kind of surface that tournament actually uses: London (Wimbledon) is played on grass, Paris (Roland Garros) on clay, New York (Flushing Meadows) on hard court, etc. Each surface has three different sets, with the scoreboard on the left, right or middle. This is probably one indication of the court in use: most games during Huge Tour tournaments are played in the sided scoreboard courts, except the final.
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to maneuver the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.
Golf ball
Advanced balls are made of multiple layers (three or more), with a soft cover and firm core. They induce a greater amount of spin from lofted shots (wedges especially), as well as a sensation of softness in the hands in short-range shots. However, these balls require a much greater swing speed that only the physically strong players could carry out to compress at impact. If the compression of a golf ball does not match a golfer's swing speed, either the lack of compression or over-compression will occur, resulting in loss of distance. There are also many brands and colors to choose from, with colored balls and better brands generally being more expensive, making an individual's choice more difficult.
Tennis Chumps
Jerry then hands Tom a bomb resembling a tennis ball, much to Tom's delight. Tom serves it to Butch and it explodes just before Butch goes to return it. Jerry then hands Butch a heavy ball-resembling ornament that he unscrewed from the fence of the court, much to Butch's delight. Butch serves it to Tom, and the ball smashes into Tom as Tom goes to return it, making Tom break into pieces, much to Jerry's amusement.
Tennis ball
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.
Backyard cricket
Whilst loosely based upon the game of cricket, many aspects are improvised: the playing ground, the rules, the teams, and the equipment. Quite often there are no teams at all; the players take turns at batting and there is often no emphasis on actually scoring runs. The bat can be anything, as long as it can hit the ball and can be suitably held in the hands. However, usage of a bat is necessary. A ball is the other essential item. Tennis balls are often used due to the fact that they are less likely to inflict injuries than a cricket ball. They are also much cheaper and more readily available than a leather cricket ball and are easier to hit due to their slower air-speed and relative lightness. Tennis balls also bounce more than normal cricket balls, especially at low speeds. Often a tennis ball will be heavily taped on one side to give the ball extra 'swing'. This is known as a 'swing ball'—swing balls may be made with: gaffer tape, electrical tape, plumbing tape or any other kind of tape available. The pitch can be any stretch of ground that is reasonably flat. The wicket may be any convenient object – a chair, a cardboard box, a set of long twigs or sticks, a rubbish bin, tree or a drawing on the wall. Often, the wicket is by no means close to the official size, but it is used anyway. A wicket at the non-striker's end is generally a single stump if proper stumps are available and in the absence of larger objects may be just a hat or a shoe. Its main purpose is to mark the bowler's crease, but can be instrumental when there are two batters and one may be run out. Games with relatively few players typically forgo the teams and innings format of professional cricket, opting instead for a batsmen-vs-everyone format.
Downball
Downball is usually played with a tennis ball. Any number of players can participate. The game area usually consists of a single wall, against which the players hit the ball. The ball must hit the ground once before hitting the wall. A player has the option to let the ball bounce once after hitting the wall or may choose to hit it straight away. The round begins with the champion serving the ball against the wall (one bounce on the ground then off the wall back into play). The other players hit the ball back at the wall in turn. The order of play stays the same throughout the match.
Tennis court
Grass courts are the fastest type of courts in common use. They consist of grass grown on very hard-packed soil, which adds additional variables: bounces depend on how healthy the grass is, how recently it has been mowed, and the wear and tear of recent play. Points are usually very quick where fast, low bounces keep rallies short, and the serve plays a more important role than on other surfaces. Grass courts tend to favour serve-and-volley tennis players.
Tennis Girl
The photograph was taken by Martin Elliott in September 1976 and features 18-year-old Fiona Butler (now Walker), his girlfriend at the time. The photo was taken at Wolverley tennis club in Kidderminster, England. The dress was hand-made by Butler's friend Carol Knotts, from a Simplicity Pattern with added lace trim. Knotts also supplied the tennis racquet, with all of the borrowed items later returned by Butler to Knotts after the shoot with a box of chocolates. Butler borrowed the plimsolls from her father, whilst the tennis balls were those used as playthings by her family's pet dog.
Ball clay
Ball clays are kaolinitic sedimentary clays that commonly consist of 20–80% kaolinite, 10–25% mica, 6–65% quartz. Localized seams in the same deposit have variations in composition, including the quantity of the major minerals, accessory minerals and carbonaceous materials such as lignite. They are fine-grained and plastic in nature, and, unlike most earthenware clays, produce a fine quality white-coloured pottery body when fired, which is the key to their popularity with potters.
Strings (tennis)
In tennis, the strings are the part of a tennis racquet which make contact with the ball. The strings form a woven network inside the head (or "hoop") of the racquet. Strings have been made with a variety of materials and possess varying properties that have been measured, such as dynamic stiffness, tension retention, thickness (gauge), string texture (shape of the string), and rebound efficiency.
Gosen (company)
Gosen specialises in tennis, soft tennis and badminton sporting goods. The brand has been in the industry for more than 60 years, and its products have been previously approved by the International Tennis Federation, the Indonesia Badminton Association and the Badminton World Federation. Top players such as Rod Laver, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert Lloyd, Conchita Martínez and Anna Kournikova have also previously used and promoted this brand.Gosen was one of the world's first companies that had its strings approved by the International Badminton Federation (now known as Badminton World Federation), and the International Tennis Federation. Gosen was also the first to manufacture synthetic strings and has a longstanding history in string manufacturing and the introduction of stringing techniques. All Gosen strings are made in Japan. Some have patented designs.Gosen also manufactures an additional 24 tennis strings, and 21 soft tennis strings, which are only available domestically in Japan. Gosen manufactures 2 additional series:
Juggling ball
Silicone Balls are a type of bouncing ball most commonly used during bounce juggling and stage performances. These balls are made of silicone and have the same clean appearance as stage balls, a surface which is easy to grip and catch, and have a consistent, high bounce. Silicone balls are also easier to clean than stage balls, which can often scuff permanently. Unfortunately, these balls often cost 5-7 times more than beanbags or stage balls, which often limits the use of these balls to performers and serious hobbyists. Many jugglers choose to use non-silicone bouncing balls instead, due to their far cheaper price and similar performance.
Pallone
Each team has four players. The court, or "sferisterio", is 90 metres long and 18 metres wide; the rubber ball has a diameter of 10.5 centimetres and weighs 190 grams. Scoring is also by fifteens and tens in every game, but a second bounce can result in a "chase" rather than an outright point, similar to real tennis; the team which wins 11 games is the winner of the match.
Basketball (ball)
Balls are generally designated for indoor (generally made of leather or absorbent composites), or all-surface use (generally made of rubber or durable composites, also known as indoor/outdoor balls). Indoor balls tend to be considerably more expensive than all-surface balls due to cost of materials. In addition, brand new all-leather indoor balls must be "broken in" first to achieve optimal grip before use in competition. The abrasiveness of asphalt and the dirt and moisture present in an outdoor setting will usually ruin an indoor ball within a very short period of time, which is why an indoor/outdoor ball is recommended for recreational players. Outdoor balls are commonly made from rubber to cope with rougher conditions, and they need to be filled with more air to retain a suitable level of air pressure in colder weather.
Cricket ball
Many casual players use a tennis ball wrapped in layers of some type of adhesive tape (often electrical tape), which makes the relatively soft tennis ball harder and smoother. This is commonly referred to as a tape ball. A common variant is to tape only half the tennis ball, to provide two different sides and make it easy to bowl with prodigious amounts of swing.
Picigin
The traditional ball, called "balun" (otherwise a dialectal name for a ball, but this name is strictly used, especially by expert players) is actually a peeled onion, polished off a few millimeters. This kind of ball is best suited for bouncing. It is smooth and lighter than a normal tennis ball.
Magnus effect
In table tennis, the Magnus effect is easily observed, because of the small mass and low density of the ball. An experienced player can place a wide variety of spins on the ball. Table tennis rackets usually have a surface made of rubber to give the racket maximum grip on the ball to impart a spin.
Carved stone balls
Of the 387 carved stone balls known in 1976 (now about 425), 375 are about 70 mm in diameter, but twelve are known with diameters of 90 to 114 mm. Only 7 are oval. They are therefore about the size of tennis balls or oranges.
National Tennis Club
The rules and scoring are similar to those of lawn tennis. In both sports game scoring is by fifteens (with the exception of 40, which is shortened from 45), however in real tennis the player with six games wins a set even if the opponent has five games. A match is typically best of three sets, except for the major open tournaments in which the matches are best of five sets. Another difference is that unlike the latex-based technology underlying the modern lawn-tennis ball, real tennis still utilizes a cork-based ball very close in design to the original ball used in the game, which are much less bouncy than lawn tennis balls and weigh about 2 ounces (compared to the lawn tennis ball weighing at 2 ounces). Real tennis also uses long racquets (27 inches) made of wood and use very tight strings to cope with the heavier balls.