We all know the old adage “practice makes perfect”, and that has never been more true than when it comes to tennis. This demanding sport requires of the individual a lot of practice to hone the skills needed to play and perform, as well as get the right level of fitness and agility. Putting in the hours on the practice courts is key in order to work on specific aspects of your game and to repeat shots, improve on any weakness skills, perform different drills and practise game situations until you perfect them.
Having a coach is great for learning skills and technique, but when it comes to practising it’s important to hit a lot of balls regularly. Reliability and consistency of practice is key, and this is where the tennis ball machine comes into its own. These fantastic training aids let you hit over and over again, and they ensure consistency of practice by delivering the ball as required every time.
If a specific weaker area of your game or a particular shot needs attention, be it forehands, backhands, volleys or other strokes, the tennis ball machine will enable you to work on it.
Improve strength, power & muscle memory
Training with a ball machine will also allow you to improve your strength and the power you generate behind shots. As you hit more you will develop your skill and your strength so you can get more power into your game. Using a tennis ball machine also helps to train your muscles, enabling your body to learn set actions for when the big game comes – it’s called ‘muscle memory’ and is an important aspect of racket sports training.
The tennis ball machine isn’t just beneficial to the individual who is practising though. Coaches can use them in training sessions after working on a certain shot to set up the same drill and let the trainee get more experience and practice of it. Such technology also means that a coach can set up an exercise with one person before moving on to any other players.
These devices therefore suit a wide range of purposes and will be an essential addition to any tennis club or sports centre where training takes place.
Main Features of Tennis Ball Machines
The machines all generally serve the same purpose of practising your game, though there will of course be considerable differences between models. In general, the more you spend on a tennis ball machine the more functionality the device will have and the more it will suit higher-skilled players.
So let’s take a look at some of the main features of tennis ball machines:
Ball capacity: how many tennis balls the machine can hold and will deliver before needing to be refilled.
Ball speed: the range of speeds at which the machine can fire balls to you.
Feed rate: the time interval which can be set between balls.
Ball elevation: the angle of elevation at which the balls will be fired.
Ball direction: the direction of ball delivery.
Spin: setting for topspin, underspin or no spin ball delivery.
Differences in models
The difference between the standard pieces of equipment and the more higher-end ones will be that they offer a wider range of performance: bigger ball capacity, faster ball speed, wider angle of elevation and direction on delivery, increased ball spin and so on. More advanced models can often be programmed to fire the ball at random or can be set to oscillate between fixed parameters that you can set. This allows you to practise a skill with slight differences each time so you have to think and react before each shot, as you would have to in a game.
Also, some models may suit more individual usage and others will be built for more commercial use in tennis clubs, sports centres, schools and other such applications.
Many run off a rechargeable battery with a battery life long enough to ensure multiple usages before needing to be charged, however, some more powerful machines may work off the mains.
Our Range
On our website you will find a wide range of tennis ball machines offering different amounts of functionality at different price points, to suit all users and their needs. On each product page you will find detailed information that will help you make the right choice to fit your needs.
To get started, simply scroll up this page and take a look at the machines we sell. If there are certain brands you prefer or features you need then you can sort the results using the filters.
Tennis ball machine: the training partner where you want, whenever you want!
