For the last twenty years, I have played tennis and trained other players, too. In this regard, the most frequent question that I heard is, ‘how to clean tennis balls?’. I can understand why this vital question has captured the minds of tennis players.
Keeping the tennis balls intact and in pristine form is challenging because they can quickly become dirty when you play with them frequently. However, the outside dirt does not affect the internal makeup of the balls. That is why there are several strategies for cleaning them.
If you are also a professional tennis player and you need these balls frequently for matches and practice sessions, then you might also be looking for ways to clean your expensive tennis balls.
So, we have done this homework for you! We have written this short blog to make you understand the different easy ways to clean your valuable tennis balls. Therefore, please continue reading to explore the essential details in this regard!
How To Clean Tennis Balls? | Essential Ways and Important Details
Brief Account
Having the best tennis balls in your kit can be a wonderful stroke of luck. However, you may see your favorite tennis balls becoming dirty as you play with them frequently. The dirt on your favorite tennis ball should not stop you from playing with it.
Also, you should not simply throw it away because there is a solution to it. If you are a beginner-level tennis player, you may want to discard them.
However, if you are a professional player and your collection of good tennis balls increases with time, we understand the love you have for each ball. That is why we strongly recommend you not to discard them but clean them.
If you are thinking about the possible ways of cleaning tennis balls, we will help you by sharing those ways. Therefore please keep reading!
Different Ways of Cleaning Your Tennis Balls
Are you wondering how to clean tennis balls? Sit back and relax because we have come up with the easiest three ways of cleaning your tennis balls.
These ways include using a conventional mode of handwashing, machine washing, and using a tennis ball cleaner available by the ‘Kleenball.’ The following section covering important information will make you understand these cleaning modes with more clarity.
1. Handwashing the Tennis Balls
In the cleaning guide, we would like to first throw some light on the most conventional and easiest way of cleaning tennis balls, and that is to simply treat your tennis balls with a simple hand-washing session.
In this cleaning session, first, you have to check if there is any superficial mud on your tennis ball. After that, you can simply remove it by exposing it to tap water and slightly rinsing it thoroughly. After the water and rinsing do not remove the residual dirt, you can give it a little massage to clean it.
Another washing way to clean your tennis balls is simply to soak them inside a bucket containing warm water and a slight amount of detergent. Keep the quantity of the detergent lesser so that the surface and texture of the tennis ball remain uninfluenced. In this regard, 5 minutes of soaking duration will be enough.
After that, you can take them out and wash them under the tap water. Keep them in the sunshine so that they dry completely, and then you can play with them.
2. Washing Machine Based Cleaning
Another possible way of cleaning your tennis balls is to use a washing machine. However, you should know when to go for the washing machine-based cleaning.
Based on my experience, I strongly recommend you only machine wash your tennis balls if they are not cleaned after hand washing. For example, if any gravel or stubborn stains are sticking to your tennis balls, then you may consider washing them in the machine.
However, you should not just throw the balls inside your washing machine and expect them to come out like a new set of tennis balls. Such careless behavior can make you lose these balls instead of cleaning them.
Higher temperatures and spinning rates can cause adverse effects on the balls you are trying to wash. Therefore, we strongly recommend you only use the cold washing program with the slow rotations per minute (RPM) so that your tennis balls are cleaned without any changes in the characteristics for gameplay.
3. Kleenball Based Cleaning
If you have tried to clean the tennis balls with hand washing and machine-based washing but still are not happy with the results, then there is another advanced option available for you. You will be glad to learn that a machine named Kleenball was made in 1905.
The good news is that this cleaner has been successfully patented for cleaning tennis balls. This egg-shaped cleaner comes with an external casing of wood. It also has an open through which you can easily feed the tennis balls.
FAQs
How to clean tennis balls at home without deteriorating their quality?
There are different ways to clean the tennis balls at your home by using the items part of every home’s laundry. In this regard, you can simply rinse the tennis balls with water and remove the dirt and mud stuck to them.
Or you may insert them into the washing machine. However, you should constantly monitor the speed of rotation and temperature beside time. Also, you may purchase a Kleenball, a specialized cleaner for tennis balls.
Is it safe to wash the tennis balls?
Yes, it is safe to wash the tennis balls, provided that you do it in a good way without causing damage to the overall makeup of the tennis balls. For example, it is safe to insert the tennis balls in a bucket of warm water with detergent for 5 minutes and then wash them.
However, if you carelessly use the hot boiling water, then you will cause the rubberized internal core to undergo damage and changes. That is why you can expect such a tennis ball to make you win the championships.
Can laundry detergents be used for cleaning tennis balls or not?
Laundry detergents are perfectly safe to use for cleaning tennis balls. However, we strongly recommend you use a very minute quantity as per your cleaning requirements. The warm water and little detergent will quickly remove the dirt stuck to your tennis balls. In this way, your tennis balls will remain unaffected, and they will deliver the best performance after washing even.
Final Thoughts
We hope we have provided you with the critical information. After reading the details we outlined here, we expect you would have found the answer to your ‘how to clean tennis balls?’. So, now you can do it easily whenever you feel your tennis balls are dirty. However, we also suggest you be very careful about the conditions discussed with you.
Thank you for reading this blog till the end. Don’t forget to share your worthy comments and experiences in the feedback section. Take care!
References:
https://howtosguru.com/how-to-clean-tennis-balls/
https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/laundry/laundry-hack-dryer-balls
