Do tennis players have favourite balls?

James - When we're in a match on our first serve, we're looking for the newest ball because basically that's going to fly through the air a lot quicker, a lot faster, and the serve is the most important shot and you dictate the point from the serve. On my second serve, I'm looking for a ball that's a bit more fluffed up, a slightly older ball that's going to travel through the air slower because what I want to actually do is get my second serve in with a bit of spin. And then I want to be able to trade rally points and then build the point to then be able to win it. So with the first serve, I'm looking for a quick serve, a flat serve, the second serve is going to be less in place, give my opponents some variety, not the same serve, not the same look all the time. And that's how we decide as tennis players, what balls we are going to use. So you might see Andy Murray at Wimbledon and he'll pick up three or four balls and he'll chuck a couple of balls away, but his first ball will be the newest ball because that is the most important shot. Get a short return and then build on that and maybe come into the net to volley to finish the point.

Rhys - So how are you recognising the differences between the balls? What is it that you're spotting on the balls?

James - Okay, so I'd be looking for the print on the balls, how new that looks for a first serve. On a second serve, I may be looking for a little bit more wear on the ball logo and definitely some more fluff on the outside of the ball. If you can see this ball here's got a little bit more fluff around the edge of the ball, so that's going to be a bit slower. That's going to be my second serve ball. And then this ball here hasn't got so much fluff on it and it's going to travel through the air quicker. So I'll be looking to hit a first serve with that ball.

Rhys - And when the players are discarding the balls, what is it that they're doing? Is it psychological? Is that science involved? Are they trying to find a ball that they maybe won a previous point with?

James - Andy Murray is a great example of this. He's super fussy over the balls. If he's won a point with the ball, he'll deliberately ask the ball boy or the ball girl for that ball. It's definitely psychological. I think if you've won a point, you're like 'right, gimme that ball back. That's a good ball.' Self-confidence is huge.