Why Doesn’t Tennis Use Weighted Balls Or Weighted Racquets To Boost Tennis Serve Velocity?

by Dick Mills on November 30, 2004

The question is does it really make sense for pitchers to use weighted baseballs to improve velocity. Tennis doesn't think so and yet a tennis serve is very, very similar to a baseball pitch. If weighted baseballs worked to improve pitching velocity why then would they not work to improve a tennis serve velocity?

A professional tennis coach and former Wimbledon Champion was asked about using heavier balls in tennis to increase velocity and/or accuracy of a tennis serve. He indicated that it was tried in the 1980's and seriously disprupted the performance of professional, college and junior players to the extent that production of weighted balls was discontinued by Penn, the manufacturer of tennis balls, within 18 months of their introduction.

He was also asked whether going to a football field and hitting a tennis ball as far as possible using a serve action, would increase the velocity and/or accuracy of a tennis serve? His reply questioned the sanity of the interviewer, who was a sports scientist. He suggested that the activity would be a stupid thing to do.

There is a class of activities in sports that requires high velocity and precision movements (control/command of pitches) of the type of action involved in baseball pitching. Determining performance success is very similar and therefor so shouldn't the training routines. For example activities similar would be tennis serving, cricket bowling…even ten pin bowling. None of those activities uses weighted objects or uses anything similar to long toss for practice in order to improve.

Tennis professionals have also tried using weighted racquets however they found that it completely disrupted their ability to control where the ball was going. In other words they lost their ability to feel. Baseball pitching also requires the ability to feel. And I believe that is why professional pitchers would never throw weighted balls because it would disrupt their control.

Why then would you use weighted baseballs to improve pitching performance?

If you have questions on any phase of pitching—mechanics, strength and conditioning, mental training, strategy send those questions to dickmills@gmail.com and I will answer them here.

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