Sir David Attenborough suggested tennis balls be yellow

How David Attenborough's work in color television gave tennis balls their color

As controller of BBC Two, Attenborough wanted the BBC to achieve the first full-color broadcast in Europe and saw Wimbledon as the perfect event to make it happen. Noticing that the white tennis balls used then would stain green and become less visible on color broadcasts as matches progressed, he suggested fluorescent balls, which were eventually adopted.

Why do tennis players always wear white?

Why does Wimbledon still enforce its strict all-white dress code while other major tournaments have embraced color? The answer lies in history, tradition, and even branding. From its elite origins in the 1800s, to modern-day rule changes, discover why this policy remains one of tennis’ most enduring customs.

The history of the tennis racket

Today's tennis rackets are made from lightweight composite materials, which is a big reason power, speed, and spin dominate today's game. But they weren't always built this way. This Top Sport Gear video shows the evolution of the tennis racket, from its start as medieval paddles, to the wood rackets of the early 1900s.

Modern tennis was formalized in 1874

In the late 1800s England, a growing middle class could afford homes with lawns. With more lawns in England, Major Walter C. Wingfield saw an opportunity to bring lawn tennis to the masses. Modern tennis was formalized in 1874, when Queen Victoria granted a patent for Major Walter C. Wingfield's lawn tennis box set. The game was an instant hit, and by 1877, the new All England Club in Wimbledon began hosting a tournament.

Why professional tennis players are so picky about balls before serving

Just as swimmers shave their bodies before competitions to swim faster, experiments show that tighter, less fluffy balls experience less drag forces when moving through the air and thus produce faster serves at the cost of less control. Players may select a fuzzier ball in scenarios that call for safer, more cautious play.

Tennis can be played on clay, grass, hard court, or carpet

Tennis started on grass surfaces in England, but as the sport has grown, so have the surfaces used to play the game. This article details how each surface affects ball speed, bounce height, and player movement, and highlights which Major championship uses which surface.

How billiard balls catalyzed the 'Plastics Century'

For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives: celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic.

The original basketball was hand-sewn

When the first basketball landed in a peach basket in 1891, it didn't look like the leather Wilson ball you see on today's NBA courts. The basketball evolved from the nondribbling days, when a hand-sewn ball with stitching like a football was used.

Why so many cartoons are yellow

"The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening said he found the skin tones of cartoon characters to be "freakish" and wanted his show to stand apart from everything else on television. His colorist proposed making them yellow, which color theory suggests would make the characters pop off the screen.

Before 1920, a single baseball was used throughout a game

During the Deadball Era, pitchers doctored a baseball with spit, nail files, and licorice for a competitive edge, leading to discolored, mangled, and lopsided baseballs by the game's end. This concluded in 1920 when Cleveland Indians star shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a ball too dirty to see and died. The rules were changed to require an umpire to replace a dirty baseball and outlawed the spitball.

Wood that changed the color of water was the earliest recorded example of fluorescence

Lignum nephriticum, a tea used to treat kidney and urinary illnesses, was described in the 16th century as derived from white wood that turned water a bluish hue. However, in the 17th century, accounts described the wood as reddish and creating a kaleidoscope of colors in water. In 1915, the sources were identified as two different woods, which absorb UV radiation and emit visible light.

The World Cup ball has had 23 different designs

Adidas has supplied the official ball for the last 15 iterations. The first World Cup final featured two different balls: one provided by Argentina and one supplied by Uruguay. Argentina was winning 2-1 before the balls were switched. Uruguay went on to win the match 4-2.

Billie Jean King on playing tennis before Title IX

Before Title IX, tennis legend Billie Jean King not only had to deal with limited resources; she also had to deal with isolating experiences, like being excluded from team photos at Long Beach State and being told to "get lost" by male teammates. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The greatest golf shots of all time

Television began capturing golf shots in 1954 when NBC first aired the US Open. Since then, cameras have captured the once-in-a-lifetime shots of the Tour's top players. Watch this Mojo video to learn which golfer hit the only sudden-death-ace ever, see Jack Nicklaus hit the flag at the 1972 US Open, and Tiger Woods' iconic chip at the Masters in 2005.

The origin of the sport's name is disputed

How pickleball got its name has been a point of contention for decades. The McCallums claim the family dog, Pickles, used to snatch the balls as they played and named it for him. Joan Pritchard, though, says Pickles didn’t join the family until after the game was invented.

What happens to golf balls after they're used?

With over 1 billion golf balls produced annually, an estimated 300 million to 1.5 billion are lost worldwide. On average, thousands of balls are left behind on each course, often ending up in ponds, forests, and beaches. While many golf courses recover and reuse some of these balls, studies suggest countless remain unretrieved.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

The centuries-old history of titanium white goes back to the Inca

Titanium white can be found in items ranging from paint to pills. Though it was created in New York in 1908, the pigment was first used hundreds of years earlier by the Inca, according to this article.

The first F1 sponsor was a cigarette brand

Early F1 cars were typically painted in the team’s national colors, but in 1968, Team Lotus replaced the British racing green with paint resembling their new sponsor, Imperial Tobacco. The sponsorship was a first in the sport and altered the visual and financial landscape of F1 forever.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

The earliest known country recording is Louis Vasnier's 'Thompson's Old Gray Mule'

This BBC documentary offers a brief history of the recording, explaining how the wax cylinder recording was transferred to vinyl and how the singer was identified. Interestingly, it also suggests why this recording might have been overlooked for over a century.

Watermelons were once neither red nor sweet

The gargantuan summer picnic staple has a fascinating story: 100 million tons are produced worldwide and they take up the most space of any vegetable crop in the world. But not long ago, the flesh of the melon was white and it had a bitter taste.

The 1939 film changed Dorothy's slippers from silver to ruby

Baum’s original book listed the slippers as silver, but the filmmakers wanted the shoes to pop on film—and highlight their use of Technicolor—so they turned them ruby. The slippers wound up becoming one of the movie’s most iconic elements.

Bow ties became a Bill Nye wardrobe staple after he took part in an athletic banquet

In high school, boys served as waiters during a ceremony where girls would receive awards for gymnastics, lacrosse, and other sporting events. Wanting to fit the role, Nye's father helped him dress like a waiter, and he continued wearing bow ties upon seeing their practicality in the lab.

A diamond's color comes from impurities, defects, and unique formation processes

While most diamonds are transparent and sparkly, the presence of nitrogen and boron during formation can make them yellow, orange, or blue. Radiation can produce green diamonds, and structural deformities can introduce red hues.

Throughout the 1980s, the Times Square ball was a giant apple

From 1981 to 1988, the sparkling ball was replaced by a “big apple” to promote the city’s “I Love New York” tourism campaign. This broadcast is from the apple’s first year, where one announcer proclaims, “It’s great! It’s beautiful!”

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.