In a past post about 10&Under Tennis, I started talking about some of the different types of tennis balls created to aid in the learning process for tennis. However, these deflated balls are great for more than just young children and are also fantastic learning devices that can be used to improve players of all levels! I tend to use them weekly not only to teach but to work on things myself. So in this post, we will go over a few different types of tennis balls and how to use them for more than just teaching young kids how to play tennis.
The four major kinds of balls sold in the U.S. are Red Dot, Orange Dot, Green Dot, and regular tennis balls. The main difference between each ball is how inflated they are. Your regular yellow tennis ball is going to be fully inflated, while a Red Dot ball is going to have almost no air in it. The reason for this is to prevent the ball from moving too fast or bouncing too high, allowing tennis players to practice and improve their strokes.
Red Dot Ball
The Red Dot Ball is the most deflated tennis ball in the group we are talking about today. It is best used with true beginners or people that have never played tennis before. This ball is slightly bigger than your average tennis ball and is significantly deflated. The bigger size allows for people to work on their racquet coordination skills while the deflation allows players to hit out on the ball without losing control and hitting it over the fence. This ball is useful for teaching new players strokes for the first time and is especially useful for introducing new players to rallying in short court (short court is when you try to keep the ball within the service lines).
Orange Dot Ball
The Orange Dot Ball is between the Green and Red Dot balls regarding inflation. This ball is standard sized and is about half as inflated as a regular ball. An Orange Ball will move more than a Red Dot Ball, but it still isn’t going to go too far. This ball is ideal for beginners or people who have played tennis a few times and now need to learn stroke technique. Since it is deflated, players can hit out on the ball without fear of losing control of it which is important when learning technique. It is also perfect for teaching players how to control the ball in short court rallies. The Orange Dot ball is great for this because, while this ball is deflated, it still has a little bit of movement and speed to it so players are forced to start learning how to use spin to control the ball in short court.
Green Dot Ball
The Green Dot Ball is the closest to a regular tennis ball out of all of the ones talked about. It is a regular size ball, is deflated to about 75% of a standard yellow ball, and is meant to be played with on a full-size court. A player can still get some pace on this ball. However, it will not bounce as high or go as fast as a yellow ball. The Green Dot Ball is great for intermediate/advanced players who want to work on their strokes. It is especially useful for getting a feel for going volley to volley with another player and for practicing strokes against a wall. Since this ball does not travel quite as fast as a yellow ball, it is also an excellent way to introduce newer beginner/intermediate players to full court rallies.
Here’s a bullet point summary of some of the uses for each ball
Red Dot – Perfect for true beginners (anyone who hasn’t played tennis before)
- Great for teaching racquet coordination because it is a bigger ball
- Ideal for introducing rallying in short court for new players
- Perfect for teaching technique to someone who hasn’t had any technical training
Orange Dot – This Ball is for beginners of any age who have hit a tennis ball before
- Ideal for practicing ball control in short court rallies
- Great for making big stroke changes to beginner players
Green Dot – The Green Dot Ball is perfect for any player looking to slow down the speed of a rally to work on a shot.
- Great for working on volleys (especially going volley to volley with another player)
- Perfect for working on strokes while hitting against a wall
- Ideal for working on short court with younger players
I hope this post was helpful! Please let me know in the comments below!
Leave a Reply