What's so flippin' special about those olympic ping pong balls?

During the match, the players will consistently turn and retrieve the ball that just flew by. Then begin play with the same ball that’s been smashed around at 70mph.

What? They can’t carry around a little pouch with extra ping pong balls? No one’s around to pick up the discarded balls left on the floor?

I mean c’mon! Tennis balls are orders of magnitude more expensive and they’re discarded sometimes after every play… or even before a single play.