Best Practices with the Ball Machine

Kristianne Bontempo | Towpath Tennis Contributor

Have you heard of the phrase, “practice makes perfect?” How about, “perfect practice makes perfect?” If you're getting on court and hacking up some sloppy shots just because its a practice (guilty✋), then you're not making the practice perfect. Perfect practice is playing and executing shots as you would in a match setting. But I get it, some days when you're having a particularly bad day with say your backhand, it's difficult to work on it in the middle of a group lesson or drill. So instead, grab the perfect practice partner that will work tirelessly with you while happily putting up with all the junk you might hit—the ball machine! With the upcoming USTA season, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to aid in your quest in perfecting your practice by creating a list for ‘Best Practices with the Ball Machine.'

Best Practices with the Ball Machine

• Make a plan before you get onto the court. Don’t just come out to hit and see what happens. Think about what you need to perfect; forehand, backhand, slice, top-spin, approach shot, overhead, volley, footwork—the ball machine will do it all.
•  Don’t do too much in one setting. For instance, make a list of your weakest shots and focus on 1 or 2 that are giving you the most trouble. Then practice and repeat, repeat, repeat! Practice until you can confidently hit the shot over a few times in a row. Muscle memory has higher success in retention when you’re able to focus on one shot at a time.
• Improve your timing. Once you’re able to hit the perfect shot comfortably, change up the pace. In a real match setting you might have someone popping floaters over or an opponent serving bullets. Adjust the speed on the ball machine to improve your rhythm and racquet preparation. Start slow-medium-fast, or fast-medium-slow and repeat.
• Have targets and/or consistency goals. Practicing targets can involve actual cones to aim for, or start simply by aiming for 5 shots in a row down the line, then do 5 in a row cross-court. For practicing consistency, make a goal of getting the ball in 10 times in a row then raise it up.  
• Work with a pro. Request to incorporate the ball machine in your next lesson. A pro can much better analyze and tweak problem shots when they can watch you hit from a different angle.
• Bring a buddy. One exercise that will keep your feet moving while hitting shots is practicing a little ‘ping pong’. For example, set up the shot for backhands only and rotate each shot between you and your buddy. You might be huffing and puffing but you’ll thank this heart-pumping practice in the next long match rally.
•  Leave time for serves. It’s not uncommon to see our members leave the last 10 minutes of their session or tag on another ½ hour just to practice serves. Think about it, when exactly do you practice serves? When it comes to a strong game, every shot matters. Remember perfect practice makes perfect.

If the ball machine seems intimidating, ask a Towpath staff member to show you how to use it and what you want to work on. Once you get going, you'll be a practice expert in no time!

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Play as good as you practice

Dallas Aleman | Towpath Tennis Owner | Tennis Guru

Why is it that you can play well in practice or in a lesson and then when you play a match, you play poorly at times?

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It may be the way you practice or the type of lesson you take. If your practice partner or pro is always hitting the ball back in your strike zone where your strokes are grooving, then you are preparing yourself for only one type of ball. You are essentially ‘playing catch’ where no ball really challenges you. This type of practice is great to correct a defective stroke but it’s not so good for preparing you for matches.

During actual competition, you are going to see the player that hits with spin, drop shots, uses the whole court, or the dreaded moon ball. They are your nightmare and you are cannon fodder for them. That is unless you know how to turn things around to your advantage. By beating the enemy you must learn their game and if you can’t seem to figure it out during practices, then match play is your best bet. Challenge yourself to find those types of shots and players that don’t just ‘play catch’ with you.

When you find yourself struggling against a player that doesn’t fall into your catching game, remind yourself this--you learn to improve the best when you are struggling in an uncomfortable situation.

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We get better at what we practice

Dallas Aleman | Towpath Tennis Owner | Tennis Guru

Tennis is both an individual and team sport. This time of the year we have a lot of you practicing to compete. But sometimes we hear grumbling off the court after a match with players wondering why they can't play like they do in practice.

Well we say, you get better at what you practice. So next time you're on the court take a moment to reflect, what are you practicing?

• Stretching before and after
• Hitting recklessly
• Being generous with your comments
• Skeptically shooting down ideas for lineups and pushing your own agenda
• Having energy (moving your feet)
• Grumbling
• Looking for opportunities to improve your game
• Dreaming pipe dreams with no substance
• Blaming others for your fault
• Working on a particular shot
• Giving useful feedback
• Making an effort
• Being on time
• Hitting with accuracy
• Playing it safe
• Positive attitude

Practice is just that, a combination of positives and negatives. It's up to you now to decide the outcome of your next practice by seeing what will outweigh the other.

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