Tennis teaching apparatus

A tennis playing apparatus usable by a tennis player with a tennis racket to improve his playing skills in hitting a tennis ball, said apparatus comprising:

• a base;
• a target unit including a target for striking by the tennis racket;
• a flexible wand having an upper section and a lower section, said lower section attached to said base, said wand extending upwardly from said base, said wand being able to move between a wand rest position and a wand displaced position in response to said target being struck by a tennis racket, said wand including a joint for facilitating flexing of said wand about said joint upon impact of a tennis racket with said target so as to closely simulate the feel of an unencumbered tennis ball;
• means for attaching said target unit to said upper section of said wand;
• said base including a channel, said channel including a pair of opposed sidewalls;
• said base including a channel brace extending between said sidewalls and said base further including a tubular member, said tubular member mounted to said channel brace and receiving said lower section of said wand;
• and
• said channel brace including a first planar brace portion and a second planar brace portion angularly disposed relative to said first planar brace portion and wherein said tubular member is attached to said first planar brace portion, said second planar brace portion being angled away from said wand in the direction of movement from said wand rest position to said wand displaced position.

A tennis practice apparatus usable by a tennis player with a tennis racket to improve his playing skills, said apparatus comprising:

• a base;
• a target unit including a target for striking by the tennis racket;
• a generally upright flexible wand having an upper section and a lower section, said lower section attached to said base, said wand extending upwardly from said base, said wand being able to move between a wand rest position and a wand displaced position in response to said target being struck by the tennis racket;
• means attaching said target unit to said upper section of said wand;
• and
• a damper for damping movement of said wand generated by said target being struck by the tennis racket, said damper extending upwardly from said base and including a substantially rigid damper arm having first and second damper arm ends and further including means for pivotally mounting said damper to said base, said first damper arm end being slideably engaged with said wand and said second damper arm end being pivotally mounted to said base by said mounting means.

A tennis practice apparatus usable by an individual with a tennis racket and on a playing surface to improve his playing skills, said apparatus comprising:

• a base;
• a target unit including a target for striking by the tennis racket;
• a flexible wand having an upper section and a lower section, said lower section being attached to said base, said wand extending upwardly from said base, said wand being able to move between a wand rest position and a wand displaced position in response to said target being struck by the tennis racket,
• means attaching said target unit to said upper section of said wand;
• said base further including a channel, said wand being mounted to said channel;
• said channel having an elongate axis and said base further including a pivot bracket mounting said channel for pivotal movement of said channel relative to said bracket, said pivotal movement of said channel being in a plane transverse to said channel elongate axis, whereby said channel may be selectively pivoted so as to dispose said target at selected heights above a playing surface.

A tennis practice apparatus usable by an individual with a tennis racket to improve his skill in playing the game of tennis, said apparatus comprising:

• a base;
• a target unit, including a tennis ball for striking by the tennis racket;
• a flexible wand having an upper section and a lower section, said lower section being connected to said base, said wand extending upwardly from said base, said wand being able to move between a rearwardly disposed wand rest position and a forwardly disposed wand displaced position in response to said target unit being struck by the tennis racket;
• said wand further including a shock body slidably connecting said wand upper section and said wand lower section to allow one of said wand sections to be a slidable wand section slidable relative to the other of said wand sections, said slidable wand section being movable between upper and lower displaced positions from an intermediately positioned rest position;
• said wand further including biasing means within said shock body to bias said slidable wand section to said intermediately positioned rest position and to urge said slidable wand section to said intermediately positioned rest position so that said slidable wand section returns to said intermediate rest position after being displaced to said tapper or lower displaced positions;
• means attaching said target unit to said upper section of said wand;
• said biasing means including a first spring, a second spring, and a spring collar, said first spring extending between and bearing against said shock body and said spring collar, and said second spring extending between and bearing against said spring collar and the other of said wand sections;
• and
• wherein when said target unit is struck by the tennis racket, said upper section of said wand will be displaced in relation to said lower section of said wand, extending one of said springs and compressing the other of said springs, said shock body thereby absorbing the shock of the tennis racket hitting said target unit while aiding in simulating the feel of an unencumbered tennis ball.