The average point in tennis lasts just a few shots. Of course, after a match we all remember those long and exciting drawn-out points, but the truth remains that the average point at all levels only lasts 10-12 seconds.

Whenever I drive by courts and someone is teaching a lesson, using a ball machine, or feeding balls to their children, I usually pause and watch. I just can’t help it. If curiosity once killed a cat, I will surely be hit by an errant 90 MPH ball fired from someone’s ball machine.

The other day, I was watching someone drill on their battery-operated ball machine. They started hitting a few forehands crosscourt. Before long they had hit 20. Then it had to be 40. Gosh, they were still going. Just standing there and pummeling one after another. 60 and counting. 80. 100. Finally the guy ran out of balls. Some people argue they get in rhythm by hitting 40 or more balls in a row on a machine. I would argue that you would get better rhythm specific to tennis by hitting 8-12 balls in a row, taking a 20-second pause in between “sets” and then starting up again. Concentrate on keeping good rhythm from set to set.

So, why is it so common for players using ball machines to hit so many balls in a row? Two reasons. They are either ill-informed or simply don’t have a remote control to easily turn off the machine. Here’s a great comparison chart for portable ball machines that indicates which ones have a remote control included in the price.