5 Awesome Tennis Ball Machine Drills

It’s not always easy to find the right training partner to help you improve your tennis skills. Coordinating schedules can be a cumbersome task, especially if you want to establish a proper training routine. It may also happen that you find yourself with some free time you’d like to use to train your game, only to find that your partner is busy at that very moment.

If your partner’s level of tennis isn’t as advanced as yours, you’ll probably feel like you’re not getting as much out of these sessions as you’d like to. Ideally, your opponent should keep you on your toes, and allow you to train the moves you aim to improve during a workout session. If their level is lower than yours, you’ll quickly get bored and end the practice feeling that you haven’t really developed your skills. If their level is much higher, you won’t get much of a chance to improve your game, and you’ll end up feeling frustrated.

Fortunately, there is a solution! Believe it or not, but there really is no better training partner than a tennis ball machine. The features on these machines allow you to adjust the game to your needs and objectives, both in terms of speed and when practicing specific movements and strokes. You’ll notice your game improving consistently after just a few sessions, allowing you to repeat the same shot over and over again without interruption.

If you are looking for an opponent who is always available, who will allow you to get the most out of your training time and who will help you be on top of your game, you won’t find anyone better suited than a tennis ball machine. Below you can find a series of routines that will help you reach your full potential and become the master of the court, by focusing on specific aspects of your game.

1. Improving Your Basic Stroke: Balls to the Same Point

The first and simplest of these routines consists of programming the machine to throw flat balls to the same point of the court. Start by positioning the machine in the middle of the opposite service line and configure it to throw straight shots every 10 seconds with no oscillation. Position yourself at your service line and practice your forehand or backhand by hitting those balls back. To improve your stroke direction, try to hit the balls so they land as close to the tennis ball machine as possible.

Once you’ve successfully performed 20 consecutive strokes, move the machine back to the opposite baseline, and position yourself at your baseline. Start counting again until you’ve successfully returned 20 balls in a row.

Lastly, depending on the type of stroke you’re practising, position yourself in your forehand or backhand corner and the machine in the opposite corner of the court. As it fires balls at you every 10-15 seconds, aim to make them land as close as possible to the machine again. After landing 20 successful balls, start the whole process from the beginning.

2. Improving Your Movements and Positioning: Right-Left Alternation

Place the machine in the middle of the opposite baseline and change the setting so it feeds balls to both sides of the tennis court alternatively and consistently. Since you will be alternating between forehands and backhands, this exercise allows you to practice the movements needed in preparation for a stroke.

This routine is divided in two parts. Firstly, you’ll want to practice short distance by programming the machine to fire a ball every 5-10 seconds. Position yourself in the middle of the service line, and really focus on your movement and position before each stroke. After 50 strokes, move back to the baseline centre mark, and set the machine to a firing speed of 10-15 seconds.

For the second part of this routine, keep in mind you’ll need to be running from one side of the court to the other to hit those balls. If you need to, you can skip one of every 10-15 balls, to make sure you don’t end up completely out of breath. After another 50 strokes, move back to the service line and start from the beginning.

3. Improve Your Doubles Game: The Volleyball Drill

This exercise is especially suitable for those looking to improve their doubles game. Position the tennis ball machine at the baseline centre mark and, depending on your expertise and how challenging you want the routine to be, turn up the speed dial. You can either have the machine feed balls to the centre of the court or, for an additional challenge, activate the 2-line oscillation.

Position yourself midway of the centre service line and start drilling your volleys. Try to alternate between angle volleys and deep volleys. The latter are often overlooked by tennis players during practice, but they can prove to be an inestimable tool when playing doubles, allowing you to take time away from your opponents.

4. Improve Your Lob Defence: The Smasher

A lob stroke can provide an excellent opportunity to bring a tennis game back in your favour, either by taking the opponent by surprise or by letting the hitter have the extra time to find that invaluable position at the net and dominate their adversary. But, if properly countered, it can be disastrous for the player using it. This exercise will help you improve your lob defence and make sure you have the right response when it is used against you.

Place yourself at your service line and set up the tennis ball machine at the centre of the opposite one. Program the machine to lob the ball in your direction, with a firing speed of 5-8 seconds and vertical oscillation activated (if available). To make things a bit more interesting, you can activate the 2-line horizontal oscillation for an extra challenge.

For each set of 10 balls, decide where they should land in the opposite field beforehand and, as they come your way, hit them back, hard, and try to land them as close as possible to your selected point. For the next set of 10 balls, select another point in the opposite field and start again.

You can add an extra step to this drill to improve your stamina, all the while improving your lob defence. To do this, either run to the net and back or to the baseline and back between every shot, focusing on your posture before making that next stroke. If necessary, you can lower the firing speed to 10-12 seconds.

5. Improve Your Endurance: The Runner

For this drill, place the ball machine at the centre of the opposite baseline and have it consistently fire balls to a specific place in the field, on a very low firing speed (20-30 seconds between balls). Each time you return a ball, run a lap around the field and come back into position before the next one comes your way. Every now and then, take a rest for one/two balls before getting started again.

This is a very exhausting exercise, but it is particularly beneficial in terms of improving your endurance. It will help you reach that fourth or fifth set with enough energy to keep going. By practicing your forehands and backhands in these wearing conditions, you’ll make sure you never lose a game due to fatigue!

How To Serve In Tennis

Whether it’s on clay, grass or traditional surfaces, everyone knows that a good serve is the difference between winning or losing a tennis match.

Like with anything new, getting the technique down can be confusing. Try to think back to the first time you tried to ride a bike or drive a car. Nod your head if there was a moment or two where you were ready to give up. It’s the same with a tennis serve. We suggest beginning with the basic steps, of which there are five, and then moving onto more advanced techniques.

  1. The Grip

If you happen to watch any of the pros playing you will notice the majority use a specific grip. It’s called the continental grip and is the most natural of all. It’s fairly easy, once you know how. Imagine shaking hands with the racket, while your non-dominant hand holds it by the ‘throat’. If that doesn’t feel right try the ‘hammer’ grip, which is holding the racket as if you have a hammer and are about to hit a nail.

The continental grip is used to serve, slice, hit forehand and backhand volleys and overheads or smashes, giving you the spin and power you need. If you use a forehand grip for serving you’ll get the power you’re after but you’ll lose control and accuracy.

Another reason to achieve this type of grip is because of pronation and supination, two actions that add extra power, control, and spin to your serve. If you’re not using the continental grip, supination and pronation won’t happen naturally.

  1. The Ball Toss

While the ball toss should be a simple and straightforward action of the serve, it’s what causes the majority of tennis players the most frustration. Watching amateurs and pros serve, we’ve noticed those who toss the ball about 4-6” higher than the point of contact have more control.

The players who struggle are the ones who toss the ball too high. Throwing it too high above your head breaks the momentum of what should be a fluid motion. It really is as simple as that. Your aim is to achieve a steady down/up action and make sure the ball is thrown no higher than 6 inches above the point of contact.

To hold the ball correctly, make sure you’re holding it in your fingers, not your fingertips and not in the palm of your hand. Release the ball when your hand reaches your head.

  1. The Trophy Position

The trophy position or the serve power position is what will take your serve from good to great. If you’re able to master this position, you’ll master the perfect serve. We suggest you start practicing this position once you feel confident with the grip and the throw.

There are a few essential elements with the trophy position:

  • Make sure your back shoulder is positioned lower than the front
  • Ensure the racket tip is positioned upwards
  • Your ball-tossing arm (in motion) is what will keep your body balanced
  • Your knees must be bent
  1. Supination and Pronation

While pronation and supination might sound technical, they’re two actions that will come naturally if you’re using the continental grip.

Supination happens just before contact with the forearm if you’re relaxed and have the correct grip. The more supination prior to hitting the ball the more pronation takes place. How much supination prior to hitting the ball is up to you. Some players will use very little, while others, like Pete Sampras, used as much as possible to be able to generate more ‘whip’. To check if you’re supinating make sure the palm of the hand and the strings are facing to the left side of the court.

Pronation naturally begins when your palm opens up towards the ball and carries on up until your palm and strings are facing the right side of the tennis court.

  1. The Follow-Through or Finish

Your body should be at its most relaxed when you’re serving and finishing off the serve. Everything should happen naturally, even the slowing down of your arm and body. A sudden stop will result in stress on the elbow, shoulder and wrist, leading to serious injury in the long run.

A really good way to make sure your finish is as natural as possible (and to get you pumped up) is to think of your racket as a gun, you as the sheriff. You’ve just taken the most wanted criminal down and you’re placing it back in its holster. Make sure your elbow is bent, naturally, when finishing your serve as this takes stress off the shoulder joint.

Ironically, any natural movement, like walking, running, driving or riding, takes a lot of persistence, perseverance, and practice. Everything will click into place and you’ll wonder what the big deal was all about.

How To Keep Score In Tennis

If you are a little confused as to what’s going on in the tennis court and trying to read the scores when you watch it on TV but you want to have a game and need to be able to keep score, then don’t worry.

Tennis is not a straightforward sport to understand at first, but once you get the fundamentals down, you’ll feel like a seasoned pro.

In this post, we’ll go over how to keep score in tennis, so you can enjoy anice game of tennis at your local court. You should be able to get through this post pretty quickly, as we’ve stuck to only the key ideas!

The basics

  • Each game of tennis consists of either three or two sets. In order for a player to win a set, they must win at least six games.
  • Every game is scored starting at zero, and goes up to forty points – even though it’s technically just four points. From zero, the next point is 15, then 30, then 40, which wins the game for the best player.

Getting the game started

  • To start a tennis game, one person flips a coin or spins a racket to determine who serves first. Whoever wins the toss gets to decide several things:
    • Whether to serve first or second.
    • What side of the court to start on.
    • Or if the winner wants to leave the above choices to his or her opponent.
  • Whoever serves first will serve throughout the game until its conclusion.
  • Players serve from the court’s baseline, which is the right-hand side of the court.

Scoring the Game

  • Before the player serves the ball, they should announce the score, with your score first being the first number spoken and then your opponent’s number.
  • A player gets two attempts at serving. The ball must go over the net, and land in the ‘service box’ on the opposing side, as well as bouncing towards the opposing player.
  • If the ball does not land in the service box, the player is required to serve the ball again. If the second attempt misses again, the player loses a point.
  • If the ball grazes the net but lands in the box, the serve does not count, but you must take that server over (this is known as a “let”).
  • If the serve goes in and the other player is successful at returning it, players continue hitting the ball back and forth until it hits the net, lands out of bounds, or someone misses the ball. Any of the aforementioned events will cause one player to gain a point at the expense of the other player.
  • The game continues until the score reaches 40 at which point the player on 40 can win the game by winning the next point. If the game is tied at 40, it is known as a “deuce.”, which in tennis lingo means a tie. In order to break the stalemate, a player must earn two points in a row.
  • Once the game finishes, the other person begins serving. Every odd-numbered game a different player will be the one to serve.

Scoring a Set

  • Before the beginning serve in each new game, the server is required to announce the score in sets. One should announce their score first and then the opponent’s score.
  • One set consists of six games; the first person to win six games and be 2 games ahead wins the set.
  • If the score ties at 6-6, you play a tiebreaker.

Scoring the Match

  • All of the above is known as a match. The match is then determined by the best out of two of three sets. In other words, if a player wins two sets, they win the game. If you each win a set, then you must play a third set to determine the overall winner.

Conclusion

So that’s pretty much everything that you need to know when it comes to keeping score in tennis.

If you’re still stuck scratching your head trying to figure out the game, (which is understandable) there are plenty of tutorials that can give you some visual and audio clues on how to read a game, as well as some content that can break down everything for you in real time.