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TIL that Sir David Attenborough is largely responsible for tennis balls being yellow (or green, depending on who you ask). (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In 1967, Sir David Attenborough was in charge of BBC2’s coverage of Wimbledon. The event was being televised in color for the first time, and he decided to change the tennis balls from white to yellow for easier visibility when they crossed the white pitch lines. It caught on, and now almost all tennis balls are yellow.

CNN Article on the topic

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

After reading the article (and others), I think this is giving him too much credit.

He was the BBC studio controller at the time and pushed to have the matches broadcast in colour. The BBC ignored him for years and then suddenly changed their minds without reason, and in 1967 they ordered David Attenborough to do the next Wimbledon in colour.

However, the colour of the ball wasn't changed. Balls remained white even while being broadcast in colour.

Yellow balls had actually already been used since the 19th century, but not consistently, and not at Wimbledon. After a few years of tennis matches being broadcast in colour, the ITF (without David Attenborough's involvement) conducted a study and found that flourescent yellow balls were easiest for viewers to watch, and so they started being used at Wimbledon starting in 1972.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

OPs reading comprehension is suspect