So how do the two different approaches measure up? Is a tennis ball machine really worth the money, or should you rather be buying some bricks and a bag of cement instead?

Ground strokes

There are a couple of problems practicing ground strokes against a wall or backboard. First is where to stand: too close and you won’t have enough time to complete your follow through before the ball’s already coming back at you. And it’ll also be bouncing on your toes, which is OK if you’re practicing half-volleys, but not so great for ground strokes. On the other hand, stand too far back to give yourself more time and you’ll find it harder to maintain a drill because you have less control over where the ball rebounds to. You also may find you get very good at hitting shots from knee-level, but that’s not where you’ll typically be hitting them from on the court. Some backboards solve this problem by enabling you to adjust them at an angle from vertical so the ball is deflected somewhat on an upward trajectory after hitting the board.

The other problem is you have no idea where your strokes would land on the court – perhaps you’re hitting your balls too long or too short. Sure you have the line that represents the net, but it’s a crude approximation, especially since it doesn’t allow for the fact that the net is supposed to be six inches lower in the middle than at the sides.

By contrast, you almost always use a ball machine on a real court, so none of these restrictions apply. Any half-decent machine will let you control the frequency of balls coming over the net, so you should have enough time to complete your stroke and get in position for the next one before it arrives. Likewise with height and depth of the balls being delivered.

Ball machine 1 – 0 Backboard

Volleys

Backboards are actually great for practicing volleys, particularly if you can angle them up a bit – then you can really hit down on the ball as you would on court. It’s also a pretty good exercise to practice against an uneven wall sometimes – the unpredictability of the bounce really tests your reflexes.

Ball machines are also good for volley practice – typically you dial up the frequency a bit and can hit a lot of balls in a short space of time. Again, you normally have the advantage with a machine of practicing on a real court, so can aim for your targets.

Ball machine 2 – 1 Backboard

Overheads

With a bit of practice it’s possible to approximate an incoming lob by hitting the ball so it bounces just in front of your backboard, then rebounds off the wall with a high trajectory – possible, but not that easy. In my opinion a tennis ball machine wins hands down here because you can set it to deliver the ball in the right areas and concentrate solely on hitting your overhead, rather than confusing yourself by first setting up the lob. And because you normally aim to hit the smash fairly powerfully, it’s more important with this shot than most to make sure you’re placing it within the court.

Ball machine 3 – 1 Backboard

Serves

Well, of course you don’t need either backboard or ball machine to practice your serve – just a court, and perhaps some empty ball canisters.

No points for either on this one.

Drills

With some of the more expensive machines on the market these days it’s possible to program in entire sequences of shots, simulating playing against a real opponent. But with some practice there are some drills you can also do against the wall. Figure eights, for example, where you alternate hitting down the line and crosscourt on both the forehand and backhand sides – this is really good for developing consistency and being able to maintain a rally, plus you’re forced to move your feet to get into position for each shot, so it’s a really good workout too.

Ball machine 4 – 2 Backboard

Number of Balls

One significant advantage of playing against a backboard is you don’t have to buy practice balls by the bucketload, as you do with a machine. You can quite easily practice with a single ball, although you’ll save yourself a lot of to-ing and fro-ing by having a half-dozen or so. Still, it’s nowhere near as bad as needing 50-100 balls before you can head out.

Ball machine 4 – 3 Backboard

So overall, practicing with a tennis ball machine comes out on top in my opinion – one of the main reasons being that you’re playing within the confines and measurements of a real tennis court. But don’t despise hitting against the wall either, especially if you don’t have time to get down to the court – you’ll be surprised at the difference a regular 10 minute hitting session can make. But of course, nothing beats hitting against a real opponent who’s doing their best to beat you!

How long does it take for them to go flat? Not very long at all, unfortunately – according to a study by Wilson, not more than about two weeks.

This is obviously not good news for owners of tennis ball machines. Think about it: if you set your machine to deliver a ball every five seconds and load it up with 100 balls, how much use will each ball get? Well, if you play constantly for an hour, you’ll hit 720 shots – around 7 shots per ball. But that doesn’t allow for rest breaks or pausing to reload the machine, so in reality it’ll be a fair bit less than that. Bottom line is your balls are going to be barely used after a session, and unless you’re using your machine every day, you’ll find the balls going flat before you’ve had decent use of them!

Pressureless tennis balls

The answer is pressureless tennis balls, also known as practice balls. Whereas a regular ball gets its bounce from being filled with highly pressurised gas, a pressureless ball has an internal pressure not much different to atmospheric pressure. By contrast it gets its bounce from the structure of its rubber shell, and thus does not lose bounce over time. In fact, if anything a pressureless ball gets more bouncy as its fur wears down and it becomes lighter. However, this process is much slower than the decay of pressurised balls, and allows you to get full use of the balls before having to replace them.

Pressureless balls can be a little more expensive than the regular kind, but when you consider how much less frequently you will need to replenish your supply, it’s a worthwhile investment that will save you a lot of money in the long run. All the major tennis ball manufacturers have a pressureless offering – Dunlop, Slazenger, Wilson, Penn – and all naturally claim that theirs is the best. But Tretorn seems to have the edge in this market with their “micro cell” technology which they claim results in a ball with all the benefits of being pressureless, but also performs like a regular pressurised ball.

My advice is to try a few different kinds and see what works for you. Frankly, most recreational players are not going to be that bothered about minor differences in performance – the important thing is balls that are durable and provide consistant bounce.

This gives new meaning to the phrase portable tennis ball machine – after all, a lot of the weight and expense of most machines is the humungous battery that comes with it! This definitely gets an A+ for innovation; I’m just not so sure about the usability aspects. Nice work, guys!

Here are the approximate weights of some of the best-selling machines available:

• Tennis Tutor – 42 pounds
• Wilson Portable – 38 pounds
• Lobster Elite – 42 to 46 pounds

As you can see, even the Wilson Portable weighs around forty pounds! Perhaps the truly most portable machine around is the humble Tennis Twist, weighing in at only eleven pounds – just goes to show what effect losing all those fancy extras like spin, oscillation and the ability to throw the ball harder than a six year old can have!

Portable equals Battery Operated

In case you haven’t gotten it yet, “portable” tennis ball machines are not necessarily light; rather this is a reference to the fact that they run on batteries (ie: you don’t have to plug them into mains power, and thus can use them wherever you like).

Portability features to look out for

When purchasing a tennis ball machine, be sure to look out for features that’ll make your life easier when moving it around. After all, even the best machine in the world will not help your game one bit if it stays in the garage because it’s too much hassle to get it down to the courts!

• detachable hopper – this is often the bulkiest part of the machine
• not square – narrower in one dimension gives you options when trying to get it in your boot
• big wheels – glide easier over cracks, potholes, and even stairs
• convenient handles – preferably extendable

Tennis Twist

Without doubt the smallest, lightest and cheapest tennis ball machine on the market, the Tennis Twist is intended for use by kids and/or beginners. It has virtually no features you’d typically expect to find on a ball machine – no oscillation, no control of pace or feed rate, certainly no spin. About the only variable setting it has is trajectory: you can control the depth of the ball in five increments between 12 and 20 feet. So it’s likely you will outgrow this machine pretty fast. But on the upside it’s very portable, you won’t have to remortgage your house to afford one, and it’s easy for kids to operate on their own. You can even use it to keep the dog amused! The Twist is available in AC or battery models – it takes six standard D size batteries, which provide five to ten hours playing time.

Tennis Tutor Prolite

If you’re looking for something with more features that’s capable of keeping up with you as you improve your game, the Prolite is a good option. At roughly three times the cost of the Tennis Twist, it’s still one of the most affordable tennis ball machines around. It comes in AC or battery models (built-in rechargeable battery), and has settings for varying ball speed, feed rate and trajectory, and also an optional oscillator which is well worth the extra cost. At only a foot high and weighing just 22 pounds (29 pounds for the battery model) it’s also one of the most portable solutions around.

Tennis Tutor

The Tennis Tutor comes with all the features of the Prolite as standard, but with a heavy-duty rechargeable battery and optional two-function wireless remote control for starting and stopping the machine and controlling the oscillation, and 2-line function for delivering the ball to two preset court positions.

Tennis Tutor Plus

The Plus model includes all the features of the standard Tennis Tutor, and includes spin functionality for imparting topspin or backspin to the ball, providing a more realistic playing experience. The Tennis Tutor Plus – Player model has some fairly sophisticated electronics that simulates playing against a real opponent. It has Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced modes so you can practice at the level that’s right for you.

Wilson Portable

Yes, as I mentioned in a previous article, despite the Wilson branding, this machine is manufactured under a contract with Sports Tutor. It is roughly equivalent to the Tennis Tutor Plus, although tends to be a little cheaper. You can read more about the Wilson Portable here.

So which one should you choose? It depends on how much you want to spend, how you intend to use the machine, and what features you require. You decide.

For more information about any of these machines, check out the manufacturer’s website.

Wilson Portable features

The Wilson Portable has a fairly standard set of features for the market segment it occupies, catering to the school/club and recreational market: speed control between 10 and 75 mph, interval control between 1.5 to 10 seconds, random oscillation, varying degrees of spin, and a range of trajectories from groundstroke to lob. Optionally, it also comes with remote control and two-line capability (at additional cost).

Portability…?

One of this machine’s major selling points is its portability. Admittedly at 38lbs including the battery, it’s a bit lighter than most other comparable machines, but you aren’t exactly going to ask your six year old to load it into the car for you, if you know what I mean! (When it comes to tennis ball machines, “portable” is really a euphemism for battery-operated – in other words you’re not dependent on your courts providing a mains electricity supply). While on the subject of power supply, additional power options which you may want to consider are a Fast Charger, or an external AC power adaptor which allows you to run the machine off mains power if it’s available – these do cost extra however.

The Wilson Portable has a built-in handle and wheels to make it easier to move, but a recurring gripe is that the handle doesn’t extend, so you typically have to walk hunched over when pulling it (it’s less than 2 feet high) – not the best way to loosen up those hamstrings before a workout! However, the upside to this is that it’ll fit comfortably into most cars, and also won’t take up too much room in the house, garage or clubhouse.

I’ve heard no major gripes about the machine’s performance, as you’d expect from a company who’s been in the business for as long as Sports Tutor has, and in the end this is the main factor for me. I can put up with a few rough edges as long as it does what it says on the tin – and this machine does.

You can find out more at the manufacturer’s website. Please feel free to share your experiences of the Wilson Portable in the comments section below.

• work with a coach or friend who’s at least as good as you
• consider video-taping your session – you may spot things as an observer that you can’t as a player

Practice Drill 1

Fire ball after ball to the same position on court, to allow you to really groove a particular shot. Bye bye, dodgy backhand. You can do this for just about any shot: ground-strokes, half-volleys, volleys, overheads, return of serve, etc.

Practice Drill 2

Fire balls up the middle of the court and play alternating forehands and backhands by running around the ball – also good for your fitness and footwork.

Practice Drill 3

Use a two line setting (if your machine has one) to alternate hitting forehands and backhands. As you get better at this you can space the shots out more, and crank up the speed too, to really get the feet moving and practice hitting your shots on the run.

Practice Drill 4

Put your machine on a random oscillation setting so you get a mix of balls coming at you, and aim your returns at specific areas of the court. For example, play all shots deep and cross-court, or alternate between cross-court and down the line. If possible, set the machine to deliver a mix of topspin, flat and backspin balls.

Practice Drill 5

Again with your machine on random oscillation, practice specific patterns of play or shot combinations. For example, hit a couple of ground strokes, followed by an approach shot, half-volley, then a couple of volleys, to practice working your way into the net.

Practice Drill 6

If you have one of those super-duper programmable machines, punch in a specific sequence of balls so you can practice specific plays over and over. This could be a tactic of your own devising, or perhaps you want to recreate a point from a Federer-Nadal match…

These are obviously just the tip of the iceberg, and with most tennis ball machines the major limitation is your imagination! What are your favourite drills? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Electric Lobster machines

Lobster sells three electric models: the Ball Bucket Model 201, Lobster Hybrid Model 301, and Tournament Model 401. These machines tend to be smaller and cheaper than the newer battery-powered Elite range, and while they don’t have some of the advanced features of the Elites, are still more than capable. They can toss the ball at speeds between 15 and 70 mph, can produce 80 degree lobs, and are capable of heavy topspin and backspin with the optional spin adaptor. Both the Ball Bucket and Lobster Hybrid provide random horizontal oscillation, and the Tournament Model adds vertical oscillation into the mix. Add to this the fact that electric machines are probably more durable, and you have a fairly compelling reason to seriously consider them. The one major downside is that not all courts provide access to mains power, so be sure to check this before buying!

Battery-powered Lobster machines

There are several battery-powered Lobster tennis machines to choose from: Elite Freedom, Elite 1, Elite 2, Elite 3, Elite Grandslam IV, and Elite Grandslam V. They all look very similar, but vary in features and associated price, from the entry-level Freedom, to the advanced Grandslam V. These tend to be a little more expensive and heavier than the electric machines, mostly due to the weight of the battery – they top out at about 44lbs. However, their big handles and wheels make them relatively easy to move around.

All these machines feature random horizontal oscillation, while the Elite 2 and upwards add vertical oscillation into the mix. The Elite 3 and above also have “2 line” settings to alternately hit two different spots on the court. All but the Elite Freedom feature topspin and backspin settings, and the Freedom also seems to have a shorter time between needing to charge the battery.

While battery powered models have the obvious advantage that you can use them on any court, bear in mind that the machine’s performance will degrade over the course of a session, and that this will happen quicker as the battery becomes older too.

Two year warranty

Lobster is very proud of their two year warranty, and I must say, it does give greater peace of mind knowing that there’s a safety net in case something goes wrong. I should point out though that the two year warranty does not extend to batteries – these are covered only for six months. So if you’re considering purchasing a battery machine, remember to factor in the price of a replacement battery.

For more information, please check out the manufacturer’s website.

Ball Capacity

How many tennis balls can a machine hold before you have to walk over and refill it? As with most other features, there is a wide range, but most good tennis ball machines have a capacity of 100 to 200 balls. Entry-level machines sometimes have lower capacities, while top-of-the-range ones can be significantly higher. Better make sure you have enough balls to fill it though!

Oscillation

This refers to the ability of the machine to create a random pattern of shots from side to side, instead of feeding balls to a single spot on the court. Oscillating machines can of course be set to not oscillate so you can practise a particular shot, but in general oscillation is a must-have feature or you will outgrow the machine very quickly.

Some high-end machines also feature vertical oscillation to randomly vary the trajectory of the ball and give you a more realistic mix of shots to deal with.

Ball Feed Rate

How many balls can a machine feed in a particular time? All but the most basic machines have settings that allow you to vary the rate from a ball every couple of seconds to a ball every 10 or twelve seconds. The more expensive machines tend to give you more control than the cheaper ones.

Ball Ejection Speed

How hard can the machine deliver the ball to you? Ideally you want one that won’t knock the kids’ heads off, but can still challenge you as your game develops. Most good machines can deliver balls at a gentle 10mph, or in excess of 60mph.

Spin

Can the machine impart spin to the ball? Backspin and topspin are standard on higher-end machines (including a no-spin option in the middle), which obviously provides a more realistic experience. The top machines can mix up balls with different spins, just as a human player would.

Trajectory

Most good ball machines can deliver flat groundstrokes to steep lobs and anything in between. This is important so you can practice a wide range of shots.

Size and Weight

Size and weight is an important consideration, as by necessity you are likely to have to lug the machine down to your court every time you want to use it. None are particularly portable, with the smallest machines standing about a foot high and weighing in at around 30lbs, and the largest can be four feet tall and weigh up to 100lbs!

Power Source

Most modern machines come with a rechargable battery as standard, but it is possible to find ones that run off mains power. Bear in mind that not all courts have accessible power outlets, so it’s safer to choose a battery-powered machine. However, performance is likely to degrade as the batteries run down, so if you’re planning on any seriously long sessions, you may need a spare battery pack. Most batteries should give you at least a couple of hours playing time though.

Portability

Portability here refers to whether or not a machine runs off mains power; battery-operated machines are considered ‘portable’, whereas mains ones are not, regardless of size!

Remote Control

Remote-controlled machines offer a convenience factor that allows you (or your coach) to control the machine without having to continually walk around to the other side of the net. It costs a little more, but you’ll be glad you did!

Price

Expect to spend upwards of $1000 (USD) for a decent machine, although it may be possible to pick up a bargain on . My best advice is to shop around, as prices vary tremendously between different retailers.

Manufacturer’s Warranty

Most tennis ball machines come with a one or two year manufacturer’s warranty for your peace of mind.