Tennis Technology Tuesday
Rene Lacoste is best known for the premium brand of sporting apparel that bears his name. He won seven Grand Slam Championships and was one of the “Four Musketeers” of the formidable French Davis Cup team that dominated tennis in the late 20s and early 30s. He also invented the ball machine, a fact that I was reminded of during my recent reading of “Ted Tinling: Sixty Years in Tennis.”
The tennis ball machine holds a special place in my heart. I personally own two modern ball machines and have repurposed a plastic baseball tossing toy for similar usage. I also have access to a commercial grade ball machine at the country club. I love them all.
There is a meditative quality to hitting off a ball machine that is unparalleled in live ball play. The ball machine enables sheer repetition that is perfect for fine tuning mechanics and technique. There is no better way to build muscle memory. Additionally, a player hitting off a ball machine can work on aggressive shots that would be considered to be impolite in cooperative rally play.
Rene Lacoste’s ball machine is simply delightful. Reuters produced a short video featuring the device.
I would say that Lacoste’s invention was the foundation of modern powered mechanical ball machines. The Reuters video, as well as Ted Tinling, indicate that Lacoste used the device extensively to hone his game. Frankly, I don’t see the utility as usage involves a partner to wind the device to deliver the ball. Perhaps the use case is for when a person does not have a training partner capable of conventionally delivering the ball with a racquet. Or perhaps Lacoste understood his device to be a prototype demonstrating the potential of a fully powered machine.
In any case, I am planning on spending the next four Tuesdays examining the automated ball feeding devices in my orbit. They are an integral part of my tennis training.
