Ball Speed

[KerryJ]

I wanted to start a thread in regards to ball speed. I was wondering how humidity, location/elevation, and weather affect ball speed. How do these variables affect the speed of the ball if any? Also which ball plays the slowest? Fastest? I did a search for 'ball speed weather' and got nothing. Also, I wasn't sure where to post this so if someone has an idea for a better sub-forum for this thread let me know and I'll ask to have this deleted.

Thanks for all the help

[Midlife crisis]

I wanted to start a thread in regards to ball speed. I was wondering how humidity, location/elevation, and weather affect ball speed. How do these variables affect the speed of the ball if any? Also which ball plays the slowest? Fastest? I did a search for 'ball speed weather' and got nothing. Also, I wasn't sure where to post this so if someone has an idea for a better sub-forum for this thread let me know and I'll ask to have this deleted.

Thanks for all the help

The ball speed coming off your racquet won't be affected much by anything other than temperature, where higher temperatures may make your strings slightly more elastic resulting in very small (way less than 1%) increases in ball speed.

Ball speed loss through the air depends basically on the density of air. Higher = less dense. Hotter = less dense. More humid = less dense. Of these, altitude is the largest factor that you're likely to encounter.

[elee3]

If it's really humid and your using the balls for a while it will definitely slow down a bit with the balls catching some of the moisture. Just played last week in about 65-75% humidity. We had to keep opening a new cans cause the balls weren't bouncing too well after absorbing a bit of moisture. The lower bounce was bugging us a lot more than the speed.

[downdaline]

As a tennis addict, i've played tennis in rain, blistering heat, hurricane winds and absolute humidity.

From my experience, the ball travels through the air and explodes off the court the fastest on a HOT, DRY day.

Humidity tends to make the ball slower bcos of increased mositure, but it also makes the ball FEEL heavier on the stringbed.

I did hit a few balls up at higher altitude (Cameron Highlands, Malaysia) and it was VERY dry, but also very cold. The ball still moved through the air pretty quick, but slowed down a lot more on the first bounce.

With regards to which ball is the fastest, i've found Slazenger balls to be the fastest and more responsive to spin when fresh out of the can. Wilson USOpen balls are heavier than Slazenger and seem to move slower through the air. Dunlop Forts play above average in all aspects, but lasted the longest and had the most consistent bounce throughout playing time.

[Element54]

As a tennis addict, i've played tennis in rain, blistering heat, hurricane winds and absolute humidity.

From my experience, the ball travels through the air and explodes off the court the fastest on a HOT, DRY day.

Humidity tends to make the ball slower bcos of increased mositure, but it also makes the ball FEEL heavier on the stringbed.

I did hit a few balls up at higher altitude (Cameron Highlands, Malaysia) and it was VERY dry, but also very cold. The ball still moved through the air pretty quick, but slowed down a lot more on the first bounce.

With regards to which ball is the fastest, i've found Slazenger balls to be the fastest and more responsive to spin when fresh out of the can. Wilson USOpen balls are heavier than Slazenger and seem to move slower through the air. Dunlop Forts play above average in all aspects, but lasted the longest and had the most consistent bounce throughout playing time.

I second this. I played 100% outdoors untill the last 2 months, and I couldn't get my head around the movement of the ball on the indoor court. Granted we were pretty cheap using old balls outdoor (use new-ish ones indoors).

The ball explodes (for me) on the indoor court opposed to the outdoor. I'm used to the slower, and lower balls. Indoors, I was timing it late due to the high bounce and speed of the ball. Rallying was also faster so I was out of sync.

[jasoncho92]

I second this. I played 100% outdoors untill the last 2 months, and I couldn't get my head around the movement of the ball on the indoor court. Granted we were pretty cheap using old balls outdoor (use new-ish ones indoors).

The ball explodes (for me) on the indoor court opposed to the outdoor. I'm used to the slower, and lower balls. Indoors, I was timing it late due to the high bounce and speed of the ball. Rallying was also faster so I was out of sync.
Slower lower balls? It should be that indoor is low and fast. Im not sure how balls could bounce fast and higher.

[Element54]

Slower lower balls? It should be that indoor is low and fast. Im not sure how balls could bounce fast and higher.

lol we used REALLY old tennis-balls outside, and when we went inside we decided to actually buy a couple cans of tennis balls. So its bounces more for me.

[LeeD]

You wanna impress yourselves with your service speed?
Just go up 6,000 feet, wait till it's 80 degrees and bone dry, now hit some second serves.
It goes faster than your first serves at sea level.
Now hit some first serves.
It's still going UP after going in and bouncing, AT THE backstop.
You are now duly impressed with yourself.
Of course, none of the first serves can possibly go on.