Best Tennis Ball to Repressurize with most Durable Felt

[IdrinkYourMilkshake]

I am looking for the ultimate ball that has the best feel for hitting, most durable felt for longevity and that recharges well with ball chargers. I have a new ball machine and new ball chargers. People don't usually ask which ball has the best felt because the ball goes flat first. Since my ball machine balls will be stored under pressure, it's really about most durable felt, but people say certain balls don't work well in pushing air back into the ball. This is about pressured balls, not any pressureless.
I put a lot of time into the search and only found one person that spoke about this setup and he used Dunlop practice balls. I wanted to use Wilson US Open balls, but many people say the felt doesn't last. Any insight is appreciated.

 

[MonkeyMuggs]

I am also interested in knowing the answer to the original poster's question:

"What is the best PRESSURIZED BALL to use in a Ball Machine that will also RECHARGE well? I've been using Tretorn Micro X for a couple of years and have been happy with them. However, I still far prefer and miss hitting pressurized balls. The felt on my Tretorns is 75% gone and they will need to be replaced soon (2 buckets = 150 balls I think).

I've been thinking of getting a recharger and trying a case of "good ole" pressurized balls. I don't particularly want to constantly be looking for and/or scavenging balls from other players or area courts. Even with a good recharger it would seem that "scavenging" various different "brands/makes" of balls from here/there would almost certainly result in "inconsistent" balls/play from my machine. Even if somehow finding/getting a source with the same brand of ball.......it would seem that the amount of felt left or worn on used balls would be different.

So, I'm hoping there is a good feeling, playing and performing pressurized ball who's FELT is durable enough to last and sustain the rigors of a ball machine. I'm afraid there is no real solution to keeping and maintaining nice fresh pressurized balls in a ball machine without spending beaucoup $$!?!

 

[Tennisist]

Of the regular balls, by far, the most durable have been Dunlop Grand Prix and Penn Radical. That said, even if their bounciness survives in a machine for ~1 week, their felt does not. Machines are very brutal on felt. So, even for a ball with the strongest felt of all, the max is ~ 1 week.
It's impossible to keep felt on the machine balls. I've given up on it... I am just glad I manage to keep the bounce.

 

[MonkeyMuggs]

OK - appreciate your info and response Tennisist. May I ask you how many balls (# in your hopper) are you using or cycling through your machine during this "week long period" of felt lasting or holding up on these re-pressurized pressurized balls? I started with 2 new buckets (75 in each) of Tretorn Micro X's. So, I'm using or cycling 150 of the same new/consistent balls in my machine.

The reason I ask is that while I value and "believe" you about the felt lasting you only 1 week, I'm still somewhat confused and appears I will need to continue researching, asking, investigating, etc. For it would hardly seem worth it for the numerous other ball machine owners to be re-pressurizing their balls if the felt was only going to last 1 week!? I'm pretty certain I've seen and read of quite a few people who seem to have found a workable/viable method for recharging pressurized balls for use in their ball machines.

If, for instance, you were using/cycling say 50 or 75 Dunlops; and/or you were also using your machine 3x (or perhaps even more) per week @ 2 hours each session; and/or you were also a 5.0 (or perhaps higher) rated player who hits with power/speed.............then felt lasting only one week would be understandable. And even if none of the above about only cycling 50 balls, 3x per week, 5.0 + player, etc. is/are true........you are most likely correct that no pressurized ball's felt is going to survive very long in a ball machine.

I've still got to ask, however. Perhaps the others I've read that are doing it successfully are simply constantly adding "new" used balls to their hopper. If that's the case, that won't work for me. I don't have access to that many decent used balls, and that method seems or appears to me to be too much work, hassle, etc. Looks like I'll be buying another couple of buckets or bags of Tretorns. Appreciate your help Tennisist.....and/or anyone else who has knowledge or experience regarding the above questions and issues.

 

[marco forehand]

I use a Tennis Ball Charger (75 balls) or the "little piggy" as I've nick named it.I have been using it for 10+ years. I do not use the balls in a ball machine all the time but have on occasion.I keep a bucket of balls for practicing serves and for those times when I can find someone who wants to drill. I have tried a wide variety of balls.
The winner is, the Prince Tour. The felt is durable and they re pressurize well.

 

[IdrinkYourMilkshake]

Thanks marco,
I ended up going with US Open extra duty balls and they lasted pretty well for me. I will try your Prince recommendation in the future, thanks. I did recently get a case of Penn/Head ATP balls and will try them.

 

[Tennisist]

I use ~80 balls (1 hopper). After 1 week (~ 4 times x 1.5 hours), they no longer bounce, nor do they have any felt left.
If you can re-pressurize them, you can probably extend their service quite a bit.
The way that machines produce spin do not require any felt. So, the incoming spin will be there even on the bald balls. Outgoing spin (ie. off you racquet) will probably be determined 90% by the stringbed angle and speed at impact, and only 10% by felt.
Unless they are wet... then it is reverse.

 

[beernutz]

I don't seem to have any trouble replenishing my ball supply for my machine by just walking around the courts and picking up left over balls. Many people will only play once or twice with a set of balls and then just leave them and their felt tends to be in really nice shape with most of the pressure still intact.

I just periodically remove the worst looking ones from my re-pressurizer and replace them with newly retrieved balls from the courts. I think I must have close to 200 balls now that I've accumulated in just a few months and they are all generally in good shape. Almost all of what I've collected are Penn or Wilson and neither are particularly good at retaining pressure long term.