The student's claim is not correct. Hitting a tennis ball across the court involves unbalanced forces. When a player strikes the ball, they apply a force to it, causing it to accelerate in the direction of the hit. This force from the racket is greater than any opposing forces (like air resistance and gravity) acting on the ball at that moment, resulting in an unbalanced force that changes the ball's motion.
In contrast, a situation involving balanced forces occurs when all the forces acting on an object are equal and opposite, resulting in no change in motion (the object remains at rest or moves at a constant velocity). In the case of hitting a tennis ball, the force applied by the racket is not balanced by other forces, enabling the ball to speed up and move across the court.
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