Tennis Has a New Ball and It

8/3/2019 Tennis Has a New Ball and It

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Tennis has a new ball and it's making a lot of kids, parents and coaches angry.

The ball is the same size as a regular tennis ball, but it's half yellow, half green and

softer, and doesn't bounce as high. It's tough to hit winners with it or put spin on it. At a10-and-under tournament in Lakewood, Calif., last weekend, it made kids swing, swing

and swing some more until their arms were sore and they wanted to throw their rackets

and scream.

Tennis has a new ball and it's making a lot of kids, parents and coaches angry, Tom

Perrotta and Sam Walker report on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

[SP_TENNIS] The Wall Street Journal

Another thing about the green ball: It's part of an international plan to save tennis, which

has struggled to compete with sports like soccer, football and basketball.

As of Jan. 1, the green ball is required for all 9-and 10-year-old tournaments throughout

the world, as legislated by the International Tennis Federation in Appendix VI of the

rules of tennis. The ITF also recommends, but does not require, that children eight and

under use an even softer ball that is orange, as well as smaller rackets and smaller

courts. There's a large red foam ball for 6-year-olds.

Tennis officials say that the rules changeonly the fifth in the sport's historywill

attract more children to tennis and keep them playing longer. Their theory: Softer, lower-

bouncing balls allow kids to learn proper technique more quickly and play with touch

and volleys, a dying art in tennis.

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"Our research shows that kids have more fun, that the rallies are longer, and they can

play an all-round game," said Dave Miley, the ITF's executive director of development.

"The challenge we've had is, a lot of kids drop out of tennis. "

The rule was unanimously approved by the ITF's members in 2010 and is backed by

many top coaches, including Nick Bollettieri.

"We've let our best kids play practice sets with the green ball, and every time we've

done that the coaches say they're playing a better brand of tennis," said Patrick

McEnroe, the USTA's general manager of player development.

Softer balls have been around for years and are widely used in Europe, especially in

Belgium and France, where 10-and-under tournaments haven't used regular balls in five

years.

In America, the new balls are seen as great for novices and casual players. But parents

and coaches of advanced players fear the new mandate will broaden the market at the

expense of skilled children who want to play with a regular ball sooner.

Last week in Lakewood, Max McKennon, a 9-year-old lefty from Newport Beach, Calif.,

who roots for Rafael Nadal, played his first tournament with the green ball.

"He came off the court with a sore shoulder, his hand was callused, he has never had to

work so hard," said Donna McKennon, Max's mother, after her son lost a two-hour, 45-

minute match. "If Max continues to play with those balls, he'll need shoulder surgery."

Khoung Tien, an attorney in Irvine, Calif., has a 6-year-old son, Learner, who has won

open tournaments with 8-year-olds and competes well with 10-year-olds. Tien might

hold his son out of tournaments until he's ready for 12-and-under events. "I think this is

going to bring a lot of people into tennis, but we have a child who doesn't need that, "

Tien said. "He doesn't like the ball."


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Christopher Boyer, a marketing executive in Pasadena, Calif., introduced his son

Tristan to tennis by letting him hit a balloon around the house. Tristan trained at the

USTA's player development center in Carson, Calif., at 5; when he was 8, the center

starting using softer balls more frequently. Tristan was frustrated"the balls threw offhis timing," Mr. Boyer saidand he left the program.

"I love the fact that the USTA is promoting the sport to more kids, but I say let the

market decide," Boyer said. "Let the parents and coaches choose."

McEnroe said he understands the concerns, but he sees a larger problem: Fewer than

14,000 kids age 10-and-under competed in tournaments in America last year, and manyof the best played up to the 12s. "We want to put it in place systematically so we can

raise the bar and have more players," McEnroe said.

Many coaches have bristled at the ITF's top-down approach. To wit: Earlier this month,

Miley sent a letter to the tennis federations of the ITF's membersthere are more than

200 nationsthat encouraged them to "initiate sanctions" against tournament

organizers that don't comply.

"I'm all for bringing more kids into the game and having more tournaments with all kinds

of balls and rackets," said Wayne Bryan, whose sons, Bob and Mike, are the world's top

doubles team. "But why tear down the 10-and-under tournaments we already have?"

Peter Burwash, whose company manages tennis programs at resorts worldwide, likes

the soft balls but worries that they could cause more harm than good without proper

coaching. "You can hit the bejeebers out of them and they go in," he said. "If kids use

the same mechanics with a regular ball, it could lead to injuries."

"It's stupid," said Robert Lansdorp, who honed the strokes of Maria Sharapova and

Lindsay Davenport. "I've never seen anybody who did this for a long time and

developed anyone."


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The new rules are also supposed to reduce pressure on young competitors. Patrice

Hagelauer, the technical director of the French Tennis Federation, said France is in the

process of devaluing rankings for young players. The federation wants to hold more

round-robin competitions and tournaments with more than one winner.

"At the moment, we have kids who have started too young and have more injuries than

in the past," he said. "It is ridiculous to think that because you have been winning a few

tournaments that you are a star at 12. We have to make sure it is a competition with

less pressure, for enjoyment."

Slobodan Vojinovic, the president of the development committee for the Serbian TennisFederation, isn't as convinced that more fun is the answer when it comes to developing

players.

"I personally believe this is about making more profit, not making better players," he

said. "In Serbia, nobody is playing tennis just because they love to play tennis. It's not

suitable for our mentality. We're competitive, you don't want to have fun, you want to

have success. If you don't have success in four years, you will stop."

For the last three years, Vojinovic has run an experiment in his club, Red Star Belgrade.

He gives his coaches a choice: Teach children under the ITF-designed progression, or

use softer balls as they see fit. His conclusion about the kids from the new program:

"They're worse."

Not every nation is moving as quickly as the U.S. Craig Tiley, the head of Tennis

Australia's player development and tournament director for the Australian Open, which

starts Monday, said he fully expects that private clubs, which run most tournaments for

children in Australia, will continue to use a regular ball. He said Tennis Australia has no

interest in penalizing them.


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"We don't want to inhibit growth by providing our associations parameters that are too

small," he said.

In America, alternative tournaments are already beginning to crop up, like one in SouthCarolina called the Pro's 10s Circuit. Kurt Kamperman, the USTA's chief executive for

community tennis, said the USTA would not seek to fine or prevent any such

tournament.

"They just can't say it's a USTA event," he said.

"I don't think there's a solution that will satisfy everybody," Bollettieri said. "It may hinder

a few right now, but I will stake my reputation that the result in the long run will pay

handsome dividends."

Corrections & Amplifications

The rule requiring the green ball for 9-and 10-year-old tournaments was unanimously

approved by the ITF's members in 2010. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said

the rule was approved last year.

Tennis Has a New Ball and It

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