who”s got the best balls

danbrenner

danbrenner

Legend
So I’ve been using Dunlop champion XD for a few years now. I’m generally happy with them. But when I compare them to some Wilson or Penn balls they seem light. Maybe that’s in my head. But I want your opinions on the best outdoor hard court ball all around playability and endurance. Thanks in advance.
 
Dunlop AO > ProPenn Marathon > Dunlop ATP Premium > Tecnifibre Court > Wilson US Open for me

Marathons have longer lasting felt than the Dunlops but I prefer the feel and overall playability of the Dunlop AO more. Dunlop ATP and Tecnifibre Court are very similar IMO. Wildcard is the Tecnifibre X1 balls I have a case of but I haven't broken into them yet.
 
Wilson US Open (don't last long) > ProPenn Marathon > ProPenn Tour > Dunop AO. My main rub with the Dunop AO is they fuzz so unpredictably. I've seen some look like Einstein after a few hits and others that are all matted. Its way too inconsistent for a premium ball.
 
danbrenner said:
So I’m leaning towards either
Dunlop AO xd
ProPenn marathon xd
Wilson us open xd

Any thoughts
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Buy a can of each and see if you like them.

Dunlop AO fluffs up quickly and feels heavy - good for power hitters, but not for counterpunchers or finesse players. Wilson USO is the lightest/fastest of the three and lasts the least - good for those who like to see their opponents spray the ball. ProPenn lasts the longest and I like the way it plays the best as it offers an even contest between offensive and defensive players.

Players who make a lot of errors might like the Dunlop AO balls as it is hard to hit them out especially in slow conditions. Players with fragile elbows also seem to get soreness faster with these balls.
 
Dunlop AO and ProPenn Marathon.
Most of the others just wear out and die too quickly.

I like ProPenn Marathon a bit more but they are not available everywhere.
 
I prefer using cheap Penns and changing them out after 1 set (if necessary) to buying expensive balls and using them longer.
 
So down to two
Pro Penn marathon
Dunlop ao

One reason I liked buying dunlop balls in the past is that they stick out from other balls and are easier to differentiate.
 
socallefty said:
Buy a can of each and see if you like them.

Dunlop AO fluffs up quickly and feels heavy - good for power hitters, but not for counterpunchers or finesse players. Wilson USO is the lightest/fastest of the three and lasts the least - good for those who like to see their opponents spray the ball. ProPenn lasts the longest and I like the way it plays the best as it offers an even contest between offensive and defensive players.

Players who make a lot of errors might like the Dunlop AO balls as it is hard to hit them out especially in slow conditions. Players with fragile elbows also seem to get soreness faster with these balls.
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Makes you wonder how much pro match results are influenced by what balls the tournament chose
 
Aestheticsaboveallelse said:
Makes you wonder how much pro match results are influenced by what balls the tournament chose
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You see some players complaining at every tournament if the balls don’t suit their style. Especially heavy balls seem to get the most complaints because only the guys with really elite power can outhit their opponents. Also heavy balls make the arms/wrists or some pros sore faster than other balls.

The best players adapt though and can win with whatever balls are used on their best surfaces.
 
Head Tour XT and TF X-Ones are the best balls. Next up are the Dunlop AO, Penn Tour and ProPenn Marathon balls. Wilson US Open balls retain their bounce but the felt is gone in less than one hour of hitting.
 
I loved Dunlop Slanzegers on hc, but now they seem practically impossible to find (or at $6/ball).
I'm lucky to play in clay and have stock pilled on Dunlop Fort clay (including from UK).
 
Fintft said:
I loved Dunlop Slanzegers on hc, but now they seem practically impossible to find (or at $6/ball).
I'm lucky to play in clay and have stock pilled on Dunlop Fort clay (including from UK).
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Slazengers are great except for the fact that the felt is completely gone in less than 60 mins play and are not widely available at many tennis stores in my area.
 
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mad dog1 said:
Head Tour XT and TF X-Ones are the best balls. Next up are the Dunlop AO, Penn Tour and ProPenn Marathon balls. Wilson US Open balls retain their bounce but the felt is gone in less than one hour of hitting.
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Wow! Those Technifibre X-Ones are quite pricy at $7.50 a can. Wonder if they ever go on sale?
 
jhick said:
You're the only person I've ever heard with that opinion. Cheap Penn's are awful in my opinion. I've opened brand new cans with unusable balls that have no pressure.
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Costco Penn's are famous for this. But why do you suppose that is? Do you think the factory runs special "crap balls" just for Costco?

Costco probably buys a billion balls and warehouses them. So even as fast as they sell them, they "MIGHT" still sit in the warehouse for years and lose pressure. You can usually tell just by squeezing the can. I always squeeze the can before I buy balls.

I bought a case of Wilson US Opens online from Wal Mart a few years back. They didn't even bounce. Not because US Opens are bad balls. They were just old (or stored badly).

I buy my balls from Wal Mart or Target. Always fresh balls in my experience. I never ever buy online. Too risky. And someone else gets to choose which case I get. So I will for sure be getting the oldest stock.

For me, it's just like pro tennis. I think a fresh can of Penn for every set is better than using a premium can for the whole match. I can still find Penn's for $2.50. And 2 cans is enough.
 
tennis3 said:
Costco Penn's are famous for this. But why do you suppose that is? Do you think the factory runs special "crap balls" just for Costco?

Costco probably buys a billion balls and warehouses them. So even as fast as they sell them, they "MIGHT" still sit in the warehouse for years and lose pressure. You can usually tell just by squeezing the can. I always squeeze the can before I buy balls.

I bought a case of Wilson US Opens online from Wal Mart a few years back. They didn't even bounce. Not because US Opens are bad balls. They were just old (or stored badly).

I buy my balls from Wal Mart or Target. Always fresh balls in my experience. I never ever buy online. Too risky. And someone else gets to choose which case I get. So I will for sure be getting the oldest stock.
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Yeah the last time I had them they were a case given to me as a present. So I'm not sure where they were purchased from (very well could have been Costco but maybe not as they came from my brother-in-law who is a teaching pro and I'm guessing he may have got them deeply discounted through his job). Fully pressurized cans and I had some where 2 balls were okay and the third had no bounce. Inconsistent bounces to say the least were more the norm than the exception.
 
jhick said:
Yeah the last time I had them they were a case given to me as a present. So I'm not sure where they were purchased from (very well could have been Costco but maybe not as they came from my brother-in-law who is a teaching pro and I'm guessing he may have got them deeply discounted through his job). Fully pressurized cans and I had some where 2 balls were okay and the third had no bounce. Inconsistent bounces to say the least were more the norm than the exception.
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I'm not saying the can isn't pressurized and sealed, it is. I just mean you can tell by squeezing if it's lost pressure. If I can squeeze the container and "easily" touch the ball, I know the balls are junk. But it's just a feel thing. I just know what I'm looking for.

To each his own. I have no problem with Penn's. And if I get a junk ball, I just throw it out.

That said, I always ask my playing partner if Penn's are OK. 99% of people are fine. But a few guys go into long speeches about how the only ball worth playing is (whatever ball they have). And they refuse to play with anything else. So be it. I really don't care. I even toss these guys $5 usually to pay for the balls.
 
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for me (hard court):
* for best premium ball for sets: us open xd
* for best premium ball for sets & hopper longevity: pro penn marathon, htv
* for best hopper ball, but hard/heavy feel: trinity, dunlop ao/atp
typically just get pro penn marathon, to keep in the hopper after...
use us open xd for my picky friends (they reciprocate, so i do the same)
typically don't do the hopper bucket of balls, because everyone complains they are too hard/too bouncy/too heavy/etc... so i have a few cases of trinity balls just chilling on my tennis shelf :P
 
tennis3 said:
I prefer using cheap Penns and changing them out after 1 set (if necessary) to buying expensive balls and using them longer.
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interesting... all the folks (that i know) that like the cheap penns are flat ball hitters, slicers and/or hit alot of droppers... (because the cheaper balls tend to stay lower in their strikezone)
 
nyta2 said:
(because the cheaper balls tend to stay lower in their strikezone)
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That's not my experience. Lower bouncing balls basically means lower pressure. Meaning, you have an old can of balls that lost pressure over time. I've had this happen no matter what brand of ball I'm using. But Penn doesn't purposely make balls that are "flat".

For me the difference is mainly the felt. It's true that higher quality balls generally have higher quality felt. So the balls (in theory) last longer. And do play better. At least for a while. Until they dirty.

I use cheap Penns because I play on dirty public courts. No felt lasts long on those. So you either just continue playing with the same balls for an entire match (if it doesn't matter much), or you open a new can more often.

Playing on the nice, clean, indoor courts at the University, you can get by with one can for and entire match. And then it would make some sense to use a better ball. But to me, no ball lasts an entire match on dirty public courts.
 
How bad are the Penn balls from Costco really? I know they aren't great, but if they're cheap enough, are they good enough to last one good 1.5-hr session? I may just give them to my dog after that if they don't last beyond that, but if I'm just needing them to last one session, are they worth it?
 
PRS said:
How bad are the Penn balls from Costco really? I know they aren't great, but if they're cheap enough, are they good enough to last one good 1.5-hr session? I may just give them to my dog after that if they don't last beyond that, but if I'm just needing them to last one session, are they worth it?
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Really depends on the level of play, surface type/condition and what your expectations are. IMO the standard Penn HA balls are fine for a rec match here in Colorado. I've seen the nap get shredded after a set of highly competitive play on dirty hardcourts, or last longer indoors, But those Penns are basically done after that.
 
PRS said:
How bad are the Penn balls from Costco really? I know they aren't great, but if they're cheap enough, are they good enough to last one good 1.5-hr session? I may just give them to my dog after that if they don't last beyond that, but if I'm just needing them to last one session, are they worth it?
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It's more a problem of consistency in my experience. No matter what brand of tennis balls I buy, I would at least expect the balls to bounce when they are first opened. It's fine if they are cheap enough and only last 1 match. But they should at a minimum have a consistent bounce when freshly opened.
 
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PRS said:
How bad are the Penn balls from Costco really?
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They tend to be "flat". I don't think it's worth the risk to by balls from Costco.

I never buy balls if I can't squeeze the can. The can needs to have feel very full of pressure. That goes for any can of balls. I guess you can open the case of balls at Costco and squeeze them before buying. Or buy them, squeeze them, and return them. Or just play with one can and return them if they don't play well.
 
Dunlop ATP, Dunlop AO, and Babolat Gold are all good balls.

I generally feel tennis balls are priced well. Within a price range, pick the slightly more expensive one and the product seldom disappoints you. Sure, you need to keep track of normal prices and consider prices of promotions.
 
images

Maybe Djokovic?
 
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For me, the ball that lasts the longest for playability, with longest lasting fluff is the TF1 by Tecnifibre, lasting up to 8-9 games. The Dunlop AO, ATP and Fort/Elite go soft quickly after 5-6 games and become a different ball. The Wilson US Open Select XD loses fluff and playability after 7 games.
The biggest surprise for me, which I found in Asia, is a ball called Teloon Pound, which is now ITF approved. It's a fluffy ball and softer, but stays that way for 7-8 games and is consistently "bad" in that the dropoff curve in playability is, well, consistently crappy. We opened 4 cans of 4 for our 2 2hr sessions and they lasted it with a flat dropoff curve. The QC is a bit suspect with logos misprinted and rubber seams a bit rough. Still, a more consistent playing ball than what's coming out of Thailand and Philippines.
 
If money is no object, Tecnifibre balls are great. Both the court ball and the X-1 play incredibly well. But you are going to pay for them.

I used ProPenn Marathon XD over the last year and while they were good overall, there were also some consistency issues. I had more than a few balls come out of the can flat and they seem to harden in a way. I'm not exactly sure what the best way to describe it is.

I'm going back to Penn Tour XD this year. It's been the better ball for me and it's at the right price point right now too. I already ordered 25 cases and will be ordering at least 25 more.
 
Tretorn Serie+ Tour. Where I am from (Gothenburg, Sweden) this is pretty much the only ball I see people play with.
In comparison with two other balls I’ve played with extensively (Head Tour XT and Babolat Team) Serie+ Tour lasts at least five times as long. They keep the pressure very well and the felt doesn’t fall off as fast as with most other balls. However, they are a bit more firm and maybe a little bit heavier than most other balls.
We don’t have Penn here and I’ve almost never seen anyone play with any kind of Wilson or Dunlop balls.
I would be very interested to see what people im the US (or elsewhere where Tretorn is not so common) have to say about Tretorn Serie+ Tour.
 
Not talking about best, but let's mention worst. The house brand Athletic Works from Walmart is so bad I won't even let the dog chew on them. I've suggested to Wal Mart that they just discontinue them and sell other name brand balls.
 
Bunco said:
I actually like the diadem premier I’ve been using for a while now.
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For very high altitude use, the Diadem Premier pressureless balls are about as good as they get. They are similar to Triniti but about 2/3 the price. Very consistent bounce across a wide range of altitudes and temperatures.
 
the_faceless_player said:
Dunlop AO > ProPenn Marathon > Dunlop ATP Premium > Tecnifibre Court > Wilson US Open for me

Marathons have longer lasting felt than the Dunlops but I prefer the feel and overall playability of the Dunlop AO more. Dunlop ATP and Tecnifibre Court are very similar IMO. Wildcard is the Tecnifibre X1 balls I have a case of but I haven't broken into them yet.
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Break 'em open. Great balls. They last.
 
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