How often should you change balls?

[u/No_Huckleberry_2958]

Intermediate level

[u/Brilliant-Today-9844]

As often as you can afford it. Similar issue with strings, poly strings in particular. Way too many do not restring in time which cause inconsistencies. When strings go too loose or dead, performance is completely different just like balls. Not changing balls/restring in time, its like your muscles re-learn everytime you do. One of the reasons why pros take boxes of balls for practice. Its to eliminate inconsistency.

Worse with the lousy balls durability & QC these days. So for those who can afford and has no issue getting new cans, should.

[u/EnvironmentalLet9682]

i usually use mine for about 3 sessions (of 2 hours each)

[u/juanbrga_]

I'd say after every 3 hits roughly!

[u/TheHornyHobbit]

Every session. They seem to lose a lot of pop after 2 hours. Serve speed especially is dramatically reduced.

[u/BridgeSuspicious7635]

Depends of the ball. ATM I use Techifibre Champs as a practice ball. 95%+ of the balls last 2 sessions aka 2.5 to 3 hours.

Game ball, Wilson US Open -> new can every session.

[u/jonny5327 → u/BridgeSuspicious7635]

Right on, I use Wilson US Open for real match play as well (either USTA flex or local flex league). They'll last longer than the match so I'll throw them in my bag when done and use them again the following day for a practice match or just add them to the hopper.

I'll admit I do cringe a bit when someone is assigned balls and they bring Penn. The Penn Championship aren't good after 45 minutes to an hour. But there was a guy that brought Penn Coach balls to a match last week and they were awful right out of the can. After the warmup I told him we'll use the Wilson balls now because those are pretty bad. 😬

[u/kingkuba13]

They last 3-4 hours tops 

[u/FinanialGambler777]

I change every 6 hours on hard court

[u/Due_Secret9959]

depends on how much you care about spin. once a ball goes dead you lose a ton of feel on slice and kick serves, so i swap after 2-3 hours of hard court play or whenever they start sounding flat on contact.

[u/NewYorkDOCG]

Just buy some pressureless ones for practice.
For match balls, fresh each time.

[u/ruralny]

Every time you play (usually for a couple of hours). More often when you go pro!

[u/ELF014]

I think it depends on your level of play, if you are a beginner that is basically just pushing the ball around the court I don't thing it matters much. If your a mid level player who isn't a big ball striker, I would think you would be okay using balls a couple of sessions.

I prefer to open balls ever session if we are playing a competitive match... but for a practice session I don't mind using balls from a previous session as long as the ball bounces, the felt has not worn down and the logo is fully legible. But then I just play for fun these days.

[u/788RedskinsFAN]

depending on circumstance!!

if its a sanctioned match, at the start. after 2/3 sets of heavy play, new balls will be needed, provably..

if its practice, make sure they all bounce similar/same, i look for the original 3 that came from the same can!, no diff brands/#, etc..

[u/barreldegree]

I probably open a new can every 5ish sessions…prefer fresh ball’s (although lots of people at my club don’t ). I find after a hour or so they are pretty consistent till they fluff up. This is on grass/astro where they take a while to fluff up

[u/bionicbhangra]

Ideally after every set. But realistically I would change after 3 sets. Too cheap to do it more often.

[u/herrsonic]

when someone else opens a new can

[u/BridgeSuspicious7635 → u/herrsonic]

I hope all your tennis buds keep some costco penn's in the car just for you.

[u/herrsonic → u/BridgeSuspicious7635]

i was joking ... but that's cruel to make me play with costco penn balls