What Color are Your Balls?

The Rules of Tennis

You can probably win a bar bet armed with the knowledge of how many types of tennis balls are approved for adult sanctioned play by the ITF. The correct answer is 4: Type 1 (Fast), Type 2 (Medium), Type 3 (Slow), and High Altitude. Appendix I of the ITF Rules of Tennis contains a table with the conformance requirements for weight, size, rebound, and deformation for each ball type. Today we are focusing on the conformance requirement for “colour.”

The row for the color specification indicates “White or Yellow” for all four ball types. I am guessing that tradition will prevent white from ever being removed from the list. That set me out on a futile quest to try to purchase white tennis balls. Curiously enough, pink balls are readily available on the consumer market. Pink balls are not in conformance with the ITF tennis ball specifications. While a pure white ball doesn’t seem to be available anymore, Tretorn is currently marketing a yellow and white two-tone ball. I am not rushing out to buy that one, but I would certainly be willing to try it out and share my experience if Tretorn provided me with a sample.

I consider the advent of yellow as the “modern” tennis ball. That color was first introduced in 1972 for the purpose of televised matches at the US Open. The greater visibility of the yellow ball for the broadcast audience was the sole motivation for that innovation. As it turns out, yellow balls are more visible in person as well. That started an avalanche of yellow tennis ball adoption. The longest holdout against the change was Wimbledon.

Wimbledon is the most traditional of all the Grand Slam tennis tournaments. It can also be thought of as the least progressive. For example, Wimbledon was the last major to offer equal prize money for the men and the women, a milestone that was not achieved until 2007. That was a full 34 years after the US Open leveled compensation between the sexes. Sometimes there is a very fine line between tradition and historic inequity.

The first year Wimbledon switched over to the yellow ball was 1986. With only 14 years separating the introduction of the yellow ball at the US Open and the first usage at Wimbledon, that might be considered rapid adoption by Wimbledon standards. I strongly suspect that the change might have been encouraged by ball manufacturers who didn’t want to switch their production to white balls that had become a minuscule sliver of the market by then.

If your opponent at a league match arrives with a can of white tennis balls, there is no rules based reason for rejecting them. However, if they do, please find out where they bought them. I would really, really, really like to have a few traditional white balls.

1. United States Tennis Association (2021), Friend at Court: Handbook of Rules and Regulations, White Plains, NY
2. International Tennis Federation, Approved Balls, last viewed 30 May 2021.
3. 30 years ago this summer, Wimbledon turned yellow, Dave Nagle, ESPN, July 6, 2016.
4. WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: WIMBLEDON FINALLY OFFERS EQUAL PRIZE MONEY, Steve Signor, Tennis.com, March 17, 2021.