My Silent Partner -- My Ball Machine

In about January of 2013, I purchased a ball machine to facilitate my tennis development. Living in Michigan, January is perhaps a strange time to buy a ball machine, but with climate change and all, I have managed to use it many times -- yes, outdoors -- during winter months.

My machine looks just like the photo, except that the ball hopper -- the white upper half of the unit -- doesn't have the tri-colored grapic shown.

Initially I had some problems with the machine, which as it turned out was the result of one of their manufacturing suppliers providing defective or inappropriate parts that didn't meet design specifications. Nonetheless, even before they had figured that out, their customer support was and has continued to be superb.

Being on a budget, the model that I got at the time was called the Edge Star. Their top-of-the-line machines were just financially out of reach.

The manufacturer and seller was Silent Partner. My machine's features included the following:

• Variable ball speed from slow to ridiculously fast
• Variable ball spin from extreme backspin through flat through to extreme topspin
• Variable ball feed pace
• Variable ball-lauch trajectory from line drive to high-lob ballistic
• Variable fixed-direction or side-to-side oscillation of ball feed
• Two-button remote control individually turning on/off the ball feed and side-to-side oscillation

I found this machine to be cost competitive -- in fact, at the time it was the best value that I found, so I bought it.

For much of my ownership of the unit, I've kind of uncreatively used the ball machine to work on roundstrokes and volleys. Duh. Oh yeah, and I've also occasionally used it to practice overheads.

Recently I've begun to use more imagination in my application of the machine. For example, since I'm old school, having played tennis since about 1968, I tended to undervalue hitting short court (service line to service line). A couple of months ago, one of my favorite local teaching pros whom I highly respect, pointed out some improvements to my mechanics to achieve better topspin on my groundstrokes. I was having a bit of difficulty with actual implementation of his advice, and he told me one reason for that was that I hadn't played enough short court.

So I started to include short court as a significant portion of my ball-machine sessions. I'd put the machine at the T of one service line and adjust speed, spin, feed rate and launch trajectory appropriately. Then with the oscillation feature turned on, I'd get some of the best short-court practice ever. (The machine is very consistent! ;-)

I was also struggling as a new member of a doubles league. I have tended to focus on singles for many years, and though I was a serve-and-volley player back in the day, my volley skills were not up to par for modern doubles.

Enter the ball machine. Again set up at the T and set in oscillation mode, I made the appropriate speed and spin setting for the desired effect. Then most significantly, I set the feed rate to very fast, which simulated the rate of exchange in a good doubles rally, when all four players are at the net. The result was a significant improvement in my volleys (which are nonetheless a work in progress).

The only thing I've not yet done is devise a platform to allow the machine to simulate a server. I've read about others having done so successfully, so I know it can be done. This, of course, will allow me to practice my return of serve, which is so all important to a competitive player.

Recently, because of an in-storage accident, one of the three posts molded into the blue-plasic lower half of the machine -- posts that locate the ball hopper in position -- broke off. I was able to successfully glue that back good as new. However, it took several trips to the hardware store to get the proper adhesive. The key is to know that the blue plastic is polypropolene, which is stubbornly resistant to most adhesives. Once I got a glue designed for polypropolene, however, the repair progressed according to plan and the crisis was resolved.

I also finally just this fall replaced the battery, which looks to be about an every-four-years repair.

All things considered, the ball machine has been a fun and useful investment. I'm glad I made the pruchase.

Have fun. Be healthy. Play tennis!