"U.S. Open [Tennis]: Why not all tennis balls are alike"

Thanks to reader PABoy for this fascinating look at small differences in the men’s and women’s tennis balls used at the U.S. Open. Longtime readers know I've felt golf could learn from tennis having different ball specs at Grand Slam stops designed to keep the different playing surfaces relevant.

Joseph Hall and Wendy Gillis explain, however, that experts within the tennis world see major differences in ball felt

Eugene Lapierre, director of the Rogers Cup tournament in Montreal, says it’s standard practice to use more felt when the men are in town and less with the women, who alternate between his city and Toronto each year.

Lapierre says men at Rogers use a ball manufactured by Penn when they’re in Montreal and Toronto because it’s part of an endorsement deal on their circuit. Women use a Wilson ball, he says, to get them ready for the U.S. Open, which typically follows hard on the heels of the Rogers event.

While Lapierre says his tournament simply employs the balls they’re told to use, it’s his understanding that the women’s version is made for clay courts to help speed up the game on that slower surface.

The full story is worth a read because on top of the insights gleaned for a tennis fan, the imagination can easily see how this concept support the idea of a variable distance ball for competition or the sexes.