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Tennis balls always felt like a planned obsolescence item to me. Are we really unable to make balls that don't lose their bounce after a few matches? Or a tennis ball that can be reinflated?

I'm sure longevity will always be traded for weight and bounciness at the extremes, but for general play it's time for a reusable tennis ball.

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It’s more than just the air that gets lost from a ball, the felt is delicate and even small changes in distribution affect the spin. The stresses in tennis are intense, with 100 mph common for even pretty low level amateur serves. Most players keep used balls after a match for practice hitting too, and they stay usable for months.

My aunt has been playing competition tennis for about 50 years now, and she jokes that even with all the inflation on other stuff, a can of balls cost $3 in 1970 just like it does now, so they have definitely been making some pretty big efficiency gains in the manufacturing.

Or they just pay the workers less.

(before you apply that comment to just tennis balls, think bigger picture)

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