About Balls Unlimited

For over 20 years, Ralph Papenfuhs, founder of Balls Unlimited GmbH, has dedicated himself exclusively to the development and improvement of tennis balls. One could almost think that his professional development was genetically predetermined, as his father, as head of colour research at Hoechst AG, invented and patented the yellow dye at the end of the 1960s, which still characterises the look of tennis balls today. As simple as the ball looks when it rolls out of the tin, the interaction between the two most important materials used, felt and rubber, is just as complex. Balls Unlimited takes a special and uncompromising approach to quality, particularly when it comes to the choice of felt.

It is the only manufacturer in the world to use exclusively English Playnes felt for its entire range of balls, which is characterised by its extreme durability. During the three years of development, a number of ball variants were tested, evaluated and further optimised until the Balls Unlimited tennis ball collection was available to tennis players throughout Europe for the first time in 2014.

Just six months after its market launch, the Balls Unlimited Code Black won the German Tennis Magazine’s ball test against all brands that had been known on the market for years. The test result was also confirmed in 2016 and 2019, when the Code Black was once again recognised as the price/performance winner in the brand test.