Brand spanking new can of...DEAD balls.

mikeler said:

Gritty hard courts will fluff up any ball.

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I play on the same courts with various different balls. It is my experience that the extra duty US Open balls fluff up more than Penn balls (Champs and ATP) when playing against certain players. Those guys specifically complain about the Us Open balls fluffing up -- but we never have much of a fluffing problem when they are not playing.

Perhaps the humidity in Florida has a fluff factor effect.

I find Wilson balls to go dead much quicker (I keep used balls for practicing). Penns never do me wrong, although Penn Tribute's suck; but I don't count those.

jaybear1909 said:

I find Wilson balls to go dead much quicker (I keep used balls for practicing). Penns never do me wrong, although Penn Tribute's suck; but I don't count those.

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Are you talking about Wilson Championship balls? The Wilson US Open extra-duty balls should not have this problem.

SystemicAnomaly said:

I play on the same courts with various different balls. It is my experience that the extra duty US Open balls fluff up more than Penn balls (Champs and ATP) when playing against certain players. Those guys specifically complain about the Us Open balls fluffing up -- but we never have much of a fluffing problem when they are not playing.

Perhaps the humidity in Florida has a fluff factor effect.

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I stopped playing hard court tournaments close by me because those darn US Open balls always fluffed up. Tried them on another court and they did the same thing so I did not use those balls for a few years. The hard court balls do fluff up still but not nearly as bad. The soft court balls have very little fluff which is why I currently buy them.

SystemicAnomaly said:

Perhaps the humidity in Florida has a fluff factor effect.

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I think it does, especially on clay. They get very heavy after a set on clay on a humid night.

mikeler said:

I stopped playing hard court tournaments close by me because those darn US Open balls always fluffed up. Tried them on another court and they did the same thing so I did not use those balls for a few years.

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Do you think it would be a violation to carry a beard trimmer and give them a quick buzz?

jswinf said:

Do you think it would be a violation to carry a beard trimmer and give them a quick buzz?

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SIZE
2.57-2.700 inches
(6.54-6.86 cm)

Angle Queen said:

^^ I hate the 4-ball cans.

Keeping up with that fourth ball can be a royal pain. Three balls works just fine: two to the server and one to either your partner (in doubles) or one to your sole opponent (in singles).

Maybe it's a guy/gal thing. Guys clothes have pockets, and usually deep ones. Us gals are lucky if our stuff has pockets at all. /end soap box rant

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Hmmm...I was just thinking how great the 4-ball cans would be, especially for doubles since you would have two balls for each set of players, but you raise a good point. I can see how that would be a pain.

Maui19 said:

Hmmm...I was just thinking how great the 4-ball cans would be, especially for doubles since you would have two balls for each set of players, but you raise a good point. I can see how that would be a pain.

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I like the idea of a fourth ball, as it is common for us to lose a ball somewhere along the way. Like, last night I shanked a ball during warm-up, and it landed on top of some huge cylinders suspended above the baseline and lodged there.

We could leave the fourth ball on the bench and use it when a ball is lost to avoid the time spent wandering around trying to find it.

Then again, it is probably not environmentally sensitive to increase your tennis ball consumption by 30% just to avoid the occasional lost ball.

In the just learned trivia catagory, I read that in Japan balls are typically packaged in cans of just two.

floridatennisdude said:

I think it does, especially on clay. They get very heavy after a set on clay on a humid night.

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Think it depends more on the court watering situation than the humidity.

jswinf said:

Do you think it would be a violation to carry a beard trimmer and give them a quick buzz?

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Not a bad idea.

SystemicAnomaly said:

Why not just leave the 4th ball (or even the 3rd ball) at the back of the court or at the net (out of the way)? Don't see a problem. Don't really like sticking balls in my pocket when playing. The benefits of 4 balls outweighs the drawback.

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The above is the right answer.

tennis_ocd said:

In the just learned trivia catagory, I read that in Japan balls are typically packaged in cans of just two.

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Very interesting

tennis_ocd said:

In the just learned trivia catagory, I read that in Japan balls are typically packaged in cans of just two.

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I know where you can find 2 balls packaged in a sack

SystemicAnomaly said:

Why not just leave the 4th ball (or even the 3rd ball) at the back of the court or at the net (out of the way)? Don't see a problem. Don't really like sticking balls in my pocket when playing. The benefits of 4 balls outweighs the drawback.

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Ya'll must not live in windy areas or play on courts with less than perfect grades. One set of courts I play on is particularly bad. Situated next to two large open fields, the wind whips across there some kinda fierce. Balls left anywhere on court blow all around. I've even had them roll out of the "fold" at the bottom of the net on those courts.

Why play there? I can ride my bike there, both courts are rarely used, it's free...and has lights. Plus the county just redid them down to their subgrades, so some of the sloping issues have been solved...but the wind, well, Mother Nature is in full force here in March.

SystemicAnomaly said:

Are you talking about Wilson Championship balls? The Wilson US Open extra-duty balls should not have this problem.

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Honestly, I don't know. I don't ever buy Wilson balls. I just know that in my cage the Wilsons are always considerably more dead than the Penns. They'll have "Wilson 1" or something on them if that tells you anything.

Angle Queen said:

Ya'll must not live in windy areas or play on courts with less than perfect grades...

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I feel for you. No windscreens either? I do play in the 20+ mph winds at times but, with the screens, the wind at the surface of the court is usually not that bad. When we get some 30-40 mph gusts, the balls move. However, if we are getting gusts like, we'll head off the courts for food & ale.

jaybear1909 said:

Honestly, I don't know. I don't ever buy Wilson balls. I just know that in my cage the Wilsons are always considerably more dead than the Penns. They'll have "Wilson 1" or something on them if that tells you anything.

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If the balls do not say US Open on the ball then they are probably Wilson Champs of some cheap practice ball. Love the US Open balls but hate the Champs and the practice balls. The bounce of the US Open balls last easily longer than the Penn Champs.

Angle Queen said:

Ya'll must not live in windy areas or play on courts with less than perfect grades.

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OK, that's a good point for not leaving them where the wind can roll them underfoot, it's not fun playing in tornado conditions. I saw a woman the other day who had two ball-holders on her behind. I don't know how many of those can be used, I imagine it depends how broad of beam one is. I've also seen women's tennis panties which have two ball holders, maybe it was in a Victoria's Secret catalog. So it is possible to be packen' four balls on your person, just trying to be helpful. When it comes to tennis more balls is always better, it's more fun hitting balls then picking them up.

tennis tom said:

What really gets to me and reaffirms my faith in the randomness and stupidity of the universe is when the cheap-skate who NEVER brings a ball, *****s about the extra ball, that it confuses them--F-them--moron. They are the same ones who after playing for an hour and a half, with someone else's balls, (usually mine), don't know what number or brand they are. When I ask them what is so confusing about having an extra ball, they can't say--they are OCD.

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I hear you, haven't had the rub of the green on this, played several folks and have often ended up being the only one popping open new cans while others got dead balls or were 'saving' the new balls for some tournament or whatever (why not get an extra set?). Is there a protocol on this - supposed to be turns? or everyone just gets a new can every trip to the court?

I just buy the cans of 4 balls as well, the more there are, the less time wasted.

SystemicAnomaly said:

I feel for you. No windscreens either? I do play in the 20+ mph winds at times but, with the screens, the wind at the surface of the court is usually not that bad. When we get some 30-40 mph gusts, the balls move. However, if we are getting gusts like, we'll head off the courts for food & ale.



If the balls do not say US Open on the ball then they are probably Wilson Champs of some cheap practice ball. Love the US Open balls but hate the Champs and the practice balls. The bounce of the US Open balls last easily longer than the Penn Champs.

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I opened up a fresh can of these on Saturday, ALL 4 of them were dead..

There was pressure in the can as well (made the noise)

I've never experienced this before, I'm taking them back!

sportsfan1 said:

...played several folks and have often ended up being the only one popping open new cans while others got dead balls or were 'saving' the new balls for some tournament or whatever (why not get an extra set?). Is there a protocol on this - supposed to be turns? or everyone just gets a new can every trip to the court?

I just buy the cans of 4 balls as well, the more there are, the less time wasted.

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I don't play with any regular group so the ball supply thing is random. I buy them by the case and always have a couple of new 4 ball cans in the bag, usually Penns for those who don't know any better and Dunlops for players. When arriving at the court, I'll pull the new can out and and show that I have them. Sometimes I'll walk on with the can of balls in my hand as evidence. Usually, in rec dubs, one other guy will have balls too while the other two ball-less guys stand around whistling in the dark as if they never knew that tennis is played with balls. They don't even have used balls, unless they dug them out of the court-side garbage can, the ball recycling bin or stole them from the ball machine. I'll keep some decent used balls in my bag for warming up with the cheap-skates. If they don't like them they can open there's which are usually kept conveniently in the trunk of their car a quarter mile away--I can wait, check your oil and air in your tires while your at it. Another trick is to come conveniently late, that helps to prevent having to open new balls a lot too. The best protocol would be for each side to bring a can of identical balls, with the same number and play with six or eight. Then the match has a chance of having some rhythm to it--you can spend your time hitting balls instead of picking them up, rummaging through blackberry bushs getting *****ed, and looking under benches and bags for lost balls. The "players" I despise the most are the ones who arrive on the court with no bag, no balls and just one racket under their arm--tennis anyone?

Was in Sport Chalet the other day. There were a bunch of 4-packs of Penns. 12 balls total in each (4x3). The first two 4-packs I picked up each had a soft can. That seems to indicate that, at least from my experience, 1 in 6 cans of Penns is soft.