Review of tennis ball aerodynamics

The aerodynamics of a tennis ball are reviewed here with reference to several wind tunnel measurement efforts. Measurements for a wide variety of tennis balls, including the `oversized¿ balls, are presented. Flow visualization results have shown that the separation location on a non-spinning tennis ball occurred relatively early, near the apex, and appeared very similar to a laminar separation in the subcritical Reynolds number regime. The flow regime (boundary layer separation location) appears to be independent of Reynolds number in the range, 167,000