<P> I am curious about the date that tennis balls went from being white to being fluourescent yellow . I understand that this change was to enhance visibility, and that there have been experiments (none that have succeeded commercially, I believe) with other colors or combinations of colors . As a child I watched the U.S. Open at the Westside Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y. The balls were white (that would be in the 50's), and it was a prize to get a ball inadvertently hit into the stands with it's distinctive green stain from the grass surface . For years the U.S. Open has been played at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. where the hard surface gives the players more reliable bounces and the balls, of course, are fluourescent yellow . </P> <P> Just so everyone knows, that's totally my tennis ball - Nick </P> <P> Historically, balls were either black or white in colour, depending on the background colour of the courts . In 1972 the ITF introduced yellow tennis balls into the rules of tennis, as research had shown these balls to be more visible to television viewers . Meanwhile Wimbledon continued to use the traditional white ball, but eventually adopted yellow balls in 1986 . ref = http://www.itftennis.com/technical/equipment/balls/history.asp HUH HI hi HI hi HI hi HI hi </P> <P> Just an interesting note: I have polled about 300 people about the color of the classic tennis ball, even showing many of them a picture, and it's split 50 - 50 as to whether it's green or yellow . Clearly its green .--JohnLattier 00: 45, 1 November 2006 (UTC) </P>

When were yellow tennis balls first used at wimbledon