Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[meganfernandez]

I take clinics at a university tennis center, and they had a hard time getting new balls. The asst coach, who runs the clinics, was disgusted at the balls we had to use. (They were fine for me.)

I want to know if tennis balls can be recycled into news ones. And if so, why don't the manufacturers facilitate this? Seems like a good time to start. I often think about the abundance of old tennis balls - the amount in my car trunk and garage is astounding on its own. They have some limited uses, like for dog toys and on chair legs and walkers, but that just scratches the surface of the amount available. I've always thought something more creative should be done with them. Good project for architecture students.

[ponchi101]

I never thought about that. You are right. The rubber would be homogenous and uniform and I gather that "peeling" of the remaining felt should not be that hard. Also, setting up a recycle bin would be easy as you simply have to set them up at tennis facilities. It is not as tennis balls are used in many different places.
Plus, imagine the marketing benefits: "Balls made with recycled tennis balls". I would even wonder if you would even NEED to recycle the rubber ball; just reinflate to the proper pressure, seal it (nothing extraordinary with new technology) and slap a new felt on top of it.
You might be up to something.

[meganfernandez]

Right, I'm thinking reinflating the rubber and refurbishing the felt. Maybe some felt would have to be replaced, but maybe many balls could just could be fluffed up and cleaned. This is for amateur use, not pro, so they don't have to be perfect. Balls go flat in the cold, though. I wonder if that's a permanent, compositional change to the rubber or just regular deflation.

Yes on the marketing! Going even further, they could label balls as recycled from the US Open 2021, Wimbledon 2022... they become collector's. Could be stamped on the ball, too. "What balls is your court using?" "Wimbledon 22s."

Agree that collecting would be easy. Bins at clubs and maybe some public courts.

And eventually, a machine to do all this at clubs and at home.

I never thought about that. You are right. The rubber would be homogenous and uniform and I gather that "peeling" of the remaining felt should not be that hard. Also, setting up a recycle bin would be easy as you simply have to set them up at tennis facilities. It is not as tennis balls are used in many different places.
Plus, imagine the marketing benefits: "Balls made with recycled tennis balls". I would even wonder if you would even NEED to recycle the rubber ball; just reinflate to the proper pressure, seal it (nothing extraordinary with new technology) and slap a new felt on top of it.
You might be up to something.

[mmmm8]

There are non-profits that do this (at least in the US?). I don't think they refurbish, though.

https://www.recycleballs.org/

[ponchi101]

And... it takes another one of our TAT'ers to let us know that this is already done!

[meganfernandez]

There are non-profits that do this (at least in the US?). I don't think they refurbish, though.

https://www.recycleballs.org/

Thanks! I posted this on Twitter, and someone* mentioned a defunct company called Rebounces. Also, someone said that the aTP tournament in Rotterdam collects balls to recycle. I wonder how.

*someone was Marshall Jon Fisher, who wrote A Terrible Splendor. Made my day!

[JazzNU]

Yes, I was going to mention that there are places that recycle them.

For personal use, if you can thoroughly clean the tennis balls (I would recommend way more than just water and multiple cleanings) after you no longer want to play with them, a good re-use of them is in your dryer. Cuts down the drying time, and even better, the best use imo is with pillows and comforters, using them in the dryer helps with fluffing them back up to almost their original state.

[meganfernandez]

Yes, I was going to mention that there are places that recycle them.

For personal use, if you can thoroughly clean the tennis balls (I would recommend way more than just water and multiple cleanings) after you no longer want to play with them, a good re-use of them is in your dryer. Cuts down the drying time, and even better, the best use imo is with pillows and comforters, using them in the dryer helps with fluffing them back up to almost their original state.

Thanks! good idea. The cleaning directions on my puffer coat say to dry with a clean tennis ball. Didn't know you play! Do you play USTA?

[JazzNU]

Thanks! good idea. The cleaning directions on my puffer coat say to dry with a clean tennis ball. Didn't know you play! Do you play USTA?

I haven't played in a long time. But once upon a time it was one of the sports I was serious about.

Tennis balls would be excellent for a puffer coat, excellent. For a used tennis ball, just make sure you've cleaned it thoroughly, like with warm water and vinegar and then maybe a second time with a little detergent and water. But yeah, great for a coat, could absolutely keep it looking good for a long time. I just used some on pillows this weekend, night and day difference in results with and without them.

[Deuce]

I've often thought of the many discarded tennis balls going into landfills, as well...

Used tennis balls are collected here - to use on the 'feet' of chairs and desks in schools, etc. I would think this kind of collection is available in most communities.
That said, I don't really consider this to be 'recycling'. It's more like 'finding a use for old balls'.

Back in the '80s, I remember a device being sold which claimed to re-pressurize tennis balls. It was a cylindrical manual vacuum pump sort of thing, and was aimed at the recreational player.

'ReBounces' is not defunct or dead - they seem to be very much alive, and are doing interesting things with tennis balls. Their main purpose seems to be to re-pressurize balls via a device somewhat similar to the one I mentioned...

https://rebounces.com

As well, they partner with another company to chop up old tennis balls, and then use them to build... tennis courts!
Quite creative... This, to me, is TRUE recycling...

https://www.tennisballrecycling.com

.

[JazzNU]

The shirt he's wearing sold out in less than an hour. I got the La Decima one but now I hope Nike will make another realease.

I haven't tried buying this way, but it is available now if willing to order from something other than the US Nike site.

The Nike site is likely to autocorrect to the US if your browser allows it to recognize the location. Have to look in Incognito and when asked, say it's in GB and shows as being in stock. Nowhere to be found if you look on the regular US site, will get a product no longer available sign still if you go to the site.

https://www.nike.com/gb/t/rafa-winner-t ... DQ9153-010


Also available thru his academy's store, the easiest way it would seem to me to order, doesn't require jumping thru hoops. Only $2 more expensive and if you order 2 (or get something else and checkout with over 50 Euros), shipping is free to the US.

https://shop.rafanadalacademy.com/en/me ... rand-slams

[skatingfan]

I've often thought of the many discarded tennis balls going into landfills, as well...

Used tennis balls are collected here - to use on the 'feet' of chairs and desks in schools, etc. I would think this kind of collection is available in most communities.
That said, I don't really consider this to be 'recycling'. It's more like 'finding a use for old balls'.

Back in the '80s, I remember a device being sold which claimed to re-pressurize tennis balls. It was a cylindrical manual vacuum pump sort of thing, and was aimed at the recreational player.

'ReBounces' is not defunct or dead - they seem to be very much alive, and are doing interesting things with tennis balls. Their main purpose seems to be to re-pressurize balls via a device somewhat similar to the one I mentioned...

https://rebounces.com

As well, they partner with another company to chop up old tennis balls, and then use them to build... tennis courts!
Quite creative... This, to me, is TRUE recycling...

https://www.tennisballrecycling.com

.

Sort of seems like there could be several potential solutions to this issue. Finding a use for the old tennis balls outside of tennis is good - reuse comes before recycle - but it would be great long term if the balls could be refurbished, and reused in tennis because of the quantity of balls that are used in every tournament, not to mention the packaging. If tennis balls could be developed that lasted longer, but still maintained their playability, and durability so as to not affect the quality of play that would also be good. It doesn't seem sustainable to continue to use, and discard so many tennis balls for every tour event, not to mention challengers, futures, juniors, etc. being played every week.

[Deuce]

Putting old tennis balls on the feet of chairs and desks does nothing to solve the problem - the balls still end up in landfills. All it does is delay the process by a couple of years.

One could argue that it prevents the manufacture of more of those felt things made for chair/desk feet... but a lot of the chairs and desks that the balls end up on would simply not have had anything put on their feet if not for the balls.

I like the idea of chopping up the old balls to use in the creation of tennis courts - as long as the chopping process can be done without harming the environment.

[meganfernandez]

The shirt he's wearing sold out in less than an hour. I got the La Decima one but now I hope Nike will make another realease.

I haven't tried buying this way, but it is available now if willing to order from something other than the US Nike site.

The Nike site is likely to autocorrect to the US if your browser allows it to recognize the location. Have to look in Incognito and when asked, say it's in GB and shows as being in stock. Nowhere to be found if you look on the regular US site, will get a product no longer available sign still if you go to the site.

https://www.nike.com/gb/t/rafa-winner-t ... DQ9153-010


Also available thru his academy's store, the easiest way it would seem to me to order, doesn't require jumping thru hoops. Only $2 more expensive and if you order 2 (or get something else and checkout with over 50 Euros), shipping is free to the US.

https://shop.rafanadalacademy.com/en/me ... rand-slams

I'm going to Spain next week. I'll keep an eye out for some - or something similar - and bring back a few to share if I can. I don't think anyone on this board lives in Spain, right?

[dave g]

I'm surprised that this has not yet appeared on this site. https://currently.att.yahoo.com/sports/ ... 24220.html

The highest ranking umpire got suspended to 12 moths. The article isn't very specific about the actual cause, but there seems to be some room to read between the lines.