Pressureless ball?

[Tenny]

Pressureless ball? What is that?

T.

[MChong]

It's basically what it's called. I'm not too sure, but I would imagine that they have a solid core of some sort, composite materials to simulate the bounce of a real tennis ball. A good one I constantly hear about are the Tretorn (sp) Micro

[FuriousYellow]

I cut one of my old pressurless balls open last week because I was curious as well. The only difference between the pressureless ball and regular tennis ball was the pressureless was made of a thicker and stiffer rubber than the regular ball. The stiffer rubber probably keeps the ball from deforming unlike a regular ball which will become more susceptible to deforming as it loses pressure.

The pressureless balls I had actually became bouncier as the felt wore off and I finally had to replace them all after about a year's use. It was fun serving with those balls because they would just fly off the racquet.

A pressureless tennis ball is basally a ball with no air pressure. A normal “tournament” pressured ball will loose air pressure through the pores in the rubber, eventually loosing the bounce of a regulated ball (which is why they change balls often during tournament play). A traditional pressureless ball used no air pressure with special (hard) rubber that simulated the bounce of tournament ball. The resulting play was like hitting rocks, which is why traditional pressureless balls are said to be like “hitting rocks”. You should look at the Tretorn Micro X balls. Theses balls have an air replacement that does not leak through the rubber resulting in a longer lasting "normal" ball. Tretorn pioneered pressure less tennis balls with longer lasting felt. Micro X balls will loose pressure slowly over time and cost more than tournament balls, and are the best balls for ball machines in my opinion. Don’t use Micro X balls during normal play and serious practices (I don’t know if there regulated)?

[skuludo]

Micro X balls are approved for tournament play.

[SunDog]

Tretorn Micro X balls are filled with jillions of microspheres. Based upon my experience with them - they will never loose their bounce. They feel pretty close to pressurized balls - not exact though.

[K!ck5w3rvE]

Pressure less balls are mostly for coaches.

[alan-n]

The micro-x balls are great for ball machine, volley practice, serve practice... But I wouldn't use then to practice ground strokes as they feel a bit different than a regular ball... Playability is slight.

[el_mago]

I've used pressureless balls many times when I'm just hitting around. It's true that they never lose their bounce, but they bounce very high.

[SteveI]

Hi,

I have been using the Gamma balls in my summer tennis program for the last 3 years. I still have some from the 1st year. They still bounce... great for working with kids. I would not try to play a match with these. The feel.. the sound... bounce is not the same as a regular ball to be sure... but perfect for my needs.

Hope this helps,
Steve

[marc]

they are for use in altitude. the air is much thinner at higher elevation and the ball flies a lot faster if it is a normal pressurized ball. to make things more "normal" many tournaments use pressureless balls (bolas de caja or balls from the box) to slow things down. i've played futures and challengers in high altitude places around the world and there is a HUGE advantage for big servers if the tournament decides to go with regular balls and it is often a hot topic before the event starts if there has been no announcement on what ball is going to be used. as for using them as practice balls at sea level, it is something that I would never do. pressureless balls feel absolutely terrible and are risky in terms of injury (i.e. swinging harder to produce more power because the ball compresses much more on impact and does not go back to form as quickly).

The PRESSURELESS tennis ball is designed in such a way that the required hardness and resilience, is achieved solely by the rubber core (utilizing the low-compression core for less elasticity) and the internal pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure.
Therefore, the PRESSURELESS ball is less elastic and so experiences a higher hysteresis loss, when subjected to deformation which means that more of the impact energy is lost during contact with the racket and there is thus less returned so imparting less ball speed.
Also, due to low elasticity, impact is much heavier than PRESSURED ball.
By trying to achieve near PRESSURED ball characteristic and performance, Tretorn has introduced "Micro X" (much expensive ball) which in its core is filled with 700 million patented air-filled "micro cells". These balls are neither pressurized nor pressure less and combines the best of the two worlds into a tour performance ball that doesn't lose bounce and performance over time.
There are several manufacturers of the PRESSURELESS balls
--"Tretorn” (pioneer in several types of the PRESSURELESS balls and most expensive)
--“Wilson” (mid-bounce good for training, felt nap is similar to their PRESSURED balls and price is in mid range)
--“Gamma” (most popular and has thicker felt nap thus longer life, but heavier)
--“Unique Sports” (economy felt nap and bounce closer to PRESSURED balls)
--“Champs” (most inexpensive and slow bounce; good for kids and beginners)

[Pirc Defense]

I use Tretorn Micro X balls for my ball machine. They work well, but they are harder than regular, pressured balls. The bounce is very nearly the same, though you need to play with the Tretorns a couple of times before they start to bounce like a regular ball.

[peter]

Originally Posted by SunDog

Tretorn Micro X balls are filled with jillions of microspheres.

Yep. I broke one of those once. While serving. Instant dandruff all over the place...

I think they are OK. They are at the heavier end of the ball scale though so if your preferences are towards light balls you'll probably don't like them. I think they work better outside on clay courts than on indoor courts.

[court_zone]

I use the Gamma pressureless balls for all sorts of practice. They will never lose their bounce though they may bounce erraticly once the fluff/felt starts coming off. They also might do minimal damage to the strings at the beginning due to their heaviness from my experience.

[!Tym]

Get the Unique pressureless balls. They're unparalleled. They feel just like Penn Championship balls to me in terms of size and weight (Gamma balls are a little small in diameter, and are rock hard. Tretorns are a little bigger in diameter.).

The Unique pressureless balls don't hurt your arm like Tretorns do, nor are they anywhere near as expensive. New Tretorns bounce like super-balls, you have to break them in before they start bouncing more like a normal ball (i.e. not leaping over the fence like Superman).

The Unique pressureless balls simply put side by side with a brand new Dunlop Grand Prix extra duty ball bounce exactly the same.

Their economy felt last reasonably well for the price.

BUT, what is not widely known is that Unique also offers it in a heavy duty felt as well for not too much more. You just have to order from them directly.

All in all, my only complaint with their product is that they do not offer it in a two-tone color scheme which I think every manufacturer or pressureless practice balls should consider since so many tend to get lost on other courts as stray balls.

To me the Unique Pressureless trainer ball is without question the way to go if you're looking for a pressureless ball that won't hurt your arm, bounces at the same height as a pressurized ball, is economical, and most importantly feels like a normal pressurized ball. Is it EXACTLY the same? No, but it's so close as to not be a factor at all for me. I don't even think about it, having used these balls simultaneously with new pressured balls several times. That was definitely not the case in my experiences with the Pro Trainer Pressureless balls (soft as a marshmallow and bounce about the same too...and with the same speed), the Tretorn Micro X balls (hard on the arm, uncomfortably oversized, fat size, bounce way too high, feel HEAVY), and the Gamme Pressureless balls (like playing tennis with little bb gun pellets). Basically, I don't notice any differnce once in play with pressured balls, and that is the ultimate test for me.

Basically, it's like paying for the Penn Practice balls, except without knowing that every second those balls sit in your hopper in the trunk they're losing their pressure like a fat woman blows (opera analogy, NOT a personal remark, hope it's not interpreted the wrong way).

[DaveInBradenton]

......" the Tretorn Micro X balls (hard on the arm, uncomfortably oversized, fat size, bounce way too high, feel HEAVY),...."

This is NOT my experience with the Tretorn Micro X balls.

I use them for hitting practice and my ball machine and find them to play similar to regular pressurized balls. They are very long lasting too with no noticeable pressure loss. I bought them based on the numerous favorable reviews on the TW site.

I have read that Micro X balls are low impact too. Of course you can't believe everything you read on the WWW.

Best wishes,
Dave

"What's love all about?"

[mmk]

Originally Posted by DaveInBradenton

......" the Tretorn Micro X balls (hard on the arm, uncomfortably oversized, fat size, bounce way too high, feel HEAVY),...."

This is NOT my experience with the Tretorn Micro X balls.

I use them for hitting practice and my ball machine and find them to play similar to regular pressurized balls. They are very long lasting too with no noticeable pressure loss. I bought them based on the numerous favorable reviews on the TW site.

I have read that Micro X balls are low impact too. Of course you can't believe everything you read on the WWW.

Best wishes,
Dave

"What's love all about?"

Attack of the 8 year old thread

[DaveInBradenton]

Originally Posted by mmk

Attack of the 8 year old thread

The truth shall prevail!

OK, you got me on that one. I've been in a time-capsule in a non-tennis world for 15 years and am making a comeback. Instead of just starting a new thread, I did a search for "Tretorn Micro-X", found this thread, and never looked at the date.

Since I came back to tennis after a 15 year hiatus last summer, I bought a ball machine, tried the common Penn pressure-less balls. With the onset of tennis elbow I started researching ways to reduce the pain. I'd never heard of Tretorn Micro X balls, but they seem to really fit the bill for a ball machine. (Putting 65 pressurized balls in the freezer compartment occurred to me, but didn't seem all that practical)

Fact: I never heard of Roger Federer until last summer.

Now where did I leave my Jack Kramer autograph racket?

Dave