Breathing on the Ball

iTT · May 11, 2011

Why do professionals breath on the ball before they start playing?
Then throughout the game why do they clean the ball with their shorts?

YosuaYosan · May 11, 2011

To remove anxiety I assume.
You know that its better to keep the ball away from water (and the water vapor from our mouth is pure H2O), so whats the other reason ?

kaikaz · May 11, 2011

I think they breath on the ball, first of all to get the chalk of the ball and second of all to make sure theres no dust on the ball. If there is any dust or a hair on the ball the ball will make weird moves.

They clean it with their shorts to make the ball clean.

Try to serve with backspin with a new and old ball: you will see that with a new ball the ball stops alot faster because of the chalk on the ball, and old ball will just go further if you know what I mean.

iTT · May 11, 2011

the chalk? interesting. I thought they were just adding moisture to it, so that's why I'm confused why they clean it with their shorts during the game to remove the moisture.

dici · May 11, 2011

try to see what happens to your rubber when you played with a brand new ball. You can clearly see chalks left over on the rubber. Especially with the one star training ball, there will be massive amount of chalk left over after a few shots.

Not sure if you ever try to clean your rubber during the game using the breath, which is what we usually did. It just the similar terminology when they breath on the ball.

lgreggs · May 11, 2011

Breathing on the ball warms it up which makes it go faster. Also breathing on the ball then wiping the ball with the shorts removes any dirt.

azlan · May 12, 2011

Basically it's just to clean the ball from dirt and dust...that's all. So the ball 'digs' better into the rubber.

DustinZ · May 12, 2011

If you ever played in a dirty room, after going to fetch for the ball a few times look at your paddle, the dirt from the floor was transfered from the ball onto your rubber! Constantly cleaning the ball is not a bad habit to start!

poltery · May 12, 2011

like in ur rubbers i use the method : breathe and wipe LOL

iTT · May 12, 2011

lgreggs said:
Breathing on the ball warms it up which makes it go faster. Also breathing on the ball then wiping the ball with the shorts removes any dirt.

Go faster? Wouldn't warming the ball up make it expand and therefore travel slower through the air?

unagidon · May 12, 2011

i saw ma lin always do that in his game. now i know why. thanks for the information.

YosuaYosan · May 12, 2011

Even though the speed change, it must be near zero.
The change are very subtle.

GaVooN90 · May 13, 2011

Definitely getting rid of the chalk when its a new ball.. that's why a lot of players will put the whole ball in their mouth and dry it in their shorts in the pre match ball selection! Not the nicest taste but it works in taking it off the ball. The during a match in an intense environment like WTTC the ball can get wet easily so gotta keep it dry or its gonna go straight in the net!!

Charlie · May 13, 2011

i could be to prepare for a point as well

markog99 · May 13, 2011

that is an interesting fact!!!now i finaly know why they are doing it.before i just thought it was an habbit

azlan · May 13, 2011

It's a good habit to keep

Breathing on the Ball

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