Tennis ball throwing machine

A tennis ball throwing machine for throwing balls of a selected substantially uniform compressible type comprising:

• a support frame for carrying a pair of pitching wheels and drive motors;
• the pair of pitching wheels being round and with their axes of rotation being substantially parallel, rotatably mounted on the support frame wherein the wheels each comprise a ball engaging peripheral surface and those respective surfaces are adjacent one another and laterally spaced such that a ball is at least slightly compressed when passing between the surfaces;
• the pair of drive motors mounted on the support frame and connected one each to the pitching wheels to cause those wheels to rotate in opposite directions at variable speeds;
• a hopper mounted on the support frame and above the pitching wheels;
• a ball chute positioned in a path from a bottom of the hopper and a launch point that is proximate the point where the peripheral surfaces of the pitching wheels are closest together, wherein the ball chute comprises a plurality of guide rails that are spaced apart and open between them, and the guide rails are separated at a distance apart to support and direct a ball that maybe carried by the rails, whereby debris is free to fall out of and away from the ball chute.