The quality of your tennis ball is an important element to consider to offer maximum playing pleasure. During a training session or a match, it will gradually wear out until it no longer offers the necessary playing qualities. We therefore suggest reviewing the causes of wear and tear of a tennis ball and its lifespan to know when to change it.
As you hit the ball, it will lose its felt and its pressure, making the bounce less consistent and providing less control over shots. The wear of the ball can be more or less rapid depending on several criteria.
The more you hit the ball hard the more it will lose pressure. Take four players with the same technique playing on two identical tennis courts for 1h30. Players A and B each hit at 120km/h while on the second court, players C and D hit at 80 km/h. The ball pressure will then be lower for players A and B.
The court surface has a strong impact on ball wear. Depending on whether you play on porous concrete, clay, resin, grass, or carpet, the surface will not have the same porosity and therefore a different grip. A new resin will strongly grip the ball and thus reduce its lifespan, whereas carpet or grass will have less adherence with the ball, thus preserving its felt.
A topspin player will wear out the ball's felt more, as they will impart a strong rotation to the ball, thus creating additional friction on the strings as well as on the tennis court surface.
A recreational tennis player should change their tennis balls on average every 4 to 6 hours of play, whereas a competition player will tend to change their balls between 2 and 4 hours of play. On the professional circuit, players change tennis balls every 7 games. However, as we saw previously, depending on the stroke, playing style, and court surface, you may need to change balls more quickly or, conversely, continue to use them a little longer. You can also equip yourself with a tennis ball pressurizer to extend the lifespan of your balls.
Pressurized balls have a superior bounce quality compared to non-pressurized balls, which are preferred for training. The former will tend to lose pressure and wear out more quickly than the latter, but they will offer much more comfort and playing pleasure.