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What Colour Is A Tennis Ball?

What Colour Is A Tennis Ball?

  • Green

    Votes: 3 9.7%

  • Yellow

    Votes: 24 77.4%

  • Not Sure

    Votes: 4 12.9%
  • Total voters
    31
This confusion is also why I didn't get this joke at first. I though it was a brussel sprout.

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Stormkhan said:
An odd memory I have concerning tennis balls is in the early 70's, my sister was 12-14. I recall her playing a game with a neighbour where they had a tennis ball in the toe of a stocking or one leg of a pair of tights. They took turns with their backs to a bare wall to swing the ball like a cosh to hit the wall, in turn oI ver each shoulder, next to each hip, then next to each knee, finishing with one between the legs and one over their head. This was accompanied by a 'skipping' song. Each participant would follow the pattern until the tennis 'weapon' hit the body, when it became the next players turn.
Though an impact would sting, it was a non-lethal version of the old "knife-point between the fingers" thing. :)
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I remember that happening on the playground when I was a child. I had to pester mum for some of her tights so I could join in.

I also remember tennis balls being mainly white in the 70s. I think I saw some yellow ones too though.

I never knew you could get them in lots of other colours, although I have seen one which was red and yellow combination once.
 
Has it yet been mentioned that as we age we are more likely to see things with a yellowish cast?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthopsia

I first came across the notion in an article in a quilting design book concerning it being something to be aware of when working out a colour scheme.

Back to the balls ... I feel very stupid to admit this as it's not so very long ago that I sat through day after day of Wimbledon matches (TV) and on first reading the question I realised I just hadn't taken sufficient note of the colour of the balls to actually remember! oooops! In fact the more I tried to call to mind activities on court the less certain I became. I'd realised that dirty white wasn't the answer but I was buggered if I could picture them as being otherwise.

Not sure what that says about my 73 year old brain but there you go. I thought I may as well own up and answer the question honestly.
 
Sollywos said:
Has it yet been mentioned that as we age we are more likely to see things with a yellowish cast?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthopsia

I first came across the notion in an article in a quilting design book concerning it being something to be aware of when working out a colour scheme.

Back to the balls ... I feel very stupid to admit this as it's not so very long ago that I sat through day after day of Wimbledon matches (TV) and on first reading the question I realised I just hadn't taken sufficient note of the colour of the balls to actually remember! oooops! In fact the more I tried to call to mind activities on court the less certain I became. I'd realised that dirty white wasn't the answer but I was buggered if I could picture them as being otherwise.

Not sure what that says about my 73 year old brain but there you go. I thought I may as well own up and answer the question honestly.
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Sorry a bit off topic but it says that your 73 year old brain works as well as most other people's. You were watching the game not the ball.

Watch this video:


Thought I'd posted it elsewhere but can't find it (My 70 year old brain!)
 
Tunn11 said:
Sorry a bit off topic but it says that your 73 year old brain works as well as most other people's. You were watching the game not the ball.

Watch this video:


Thought I'd posted it elsewhere but can't find it (My 70 year old brain!)
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There's also one with two men carrying a large wooden panel or summat outdoors, and at some point one of the men hands an end of the object to someone else who 'happens' to be passing.
 
Tunn11 said:
Sorry a bit off topic but it says that your 73 year old brain works as well as most other people's. You were watching the game not the ball.

Watch this video:


Thought I'd posted it elsewhere but can't find it (My 70 year old brain!)
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I made it 12 passes and, amazingly, the ball didn't hit the gorilla once!
 
Tunn11 said:
Thought I'd posted it elsewhere but can't find it (My 70 year old brain!)
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Maybe I'd seen it when you posted it before as I knew what to expect so the 'game' for me had turned into 'spot the gorilla' and I failed to count the passes :)

I can't remember what I did the first time I saw it ... 70's brain syndrome again sigh.
 
I had a black and white TV in the house growing up, in the 70s. Not changed for a colour one until 1982 at the earliest....So my Wimbledon tennis ball memories are coloured by that.....
 
Tunn11 said:
Sorry a bit off topic but it says that your 73 year old brain works as well as most other people's. You were watching the game not the ball.

Watch this video:


Thought I'd posted it elsewhere but can't find it (My 70 year old brain!)
Click to expand...
We used this video extensively during the early 2000’s as part of the cultural change programme that was gradually introduced into the construction industry. It was used to demonstrate that whilst people are looking, they don’t always see.
 
After reading this thread yesterday, I asked a small group of people I was having a drink with last night and got a mix of yellow and green, then yellowish-green (cheats). What chance have us colourblind folk got if you norms can't even make up your minds? I think I was aware that I didn't know what colour a tennis ball is, but it never occurred to me that people with normal colour vision would have a problem.
 
Tempest63 said:
We used this video extensively during the early 2000’s as part of the cultural change programme that was gradually introduced into the construction industry. It was used to demonstrate that whilst people are looking, they don’t always see.
Click to expand...
Whats a cultural change programme?
 
Kondoru said:
Whats a cultural change programme?
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In construction it is the process we attempt to use to change people’s culture, make them more caring for the fellow workers, look out for one another as well as their selves and never walk by and ignore something you see that has the potential to harm someone.
After well over 20 years I remain sceptical
 
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After a conversation with my sister re this subject she said she had a vague memory of the colour being changed to yellow because they'd show up better on colour TV.

Why tennis balls color was changed from white to yellow?

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.

And guess who had the idea lol

n 1967, Sir David Attenborough had the job of introducing colour on television and shortly after the first Wimbledon colour broadcast that year, he made the suggestion of switching to a fluorescent yellow tennis ball for easier visibility.
 
I do think that when it comes to fluorescent yellow, it's very nearly green; even the hex code is #ccff02. I'd still say it's yellow, but it's a pretty greenish yellow so I guess I get where people call it green.
I can't dig up a wavelength value for the fluorescence, though.
 
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