Il rimbalzo sorprende il ribattitore.

Because both rimbalzo and ribattitore are singular masculine nouns, and each one needs its own definite article.

• il rimbalzo = the bounce
• il ribattitore = the returner / batter / receiver depending on context

Italian usually repeats the article where English also uses the before each noun. You cannot normally use one il for both words here.

In this sentence, il rimbalzo is the subject and il ribattitore is the direct object.

So:

• Il rimbalzo = the thing doing the surprising
• sorprende = surprises
• il ribattitore = the person being surprised

Italian often follows the same basic word order as English here: subject + verb + object.

So the structure is:

• Il rimbalzo → subject
• sorprende → verb
• il ribattitore → object

Sorprendere is the infinitive, meaning to surprise.
Sorprende is the conjugated form, meaning surprises.

Here the subject is il rimbalzo, which is third person singular, so the verb must match it:

• sorprendere = to surprise
• (lui/lei/esso) sorprende = he/she/it surprises

So Il rimbalzo sorprende... literally means The bounce surprises...

The dictionary forms are:

• rimbalzo = bounce
• sorprendere = to surprise
• ribattitore = returner / batter / hitter, depending on the sport or context

This is useful because in Italian you usually look up verbs in the infinitive form and nouns in the singular form.

Ribattitore comes from the verb ribattere, which can mean to hit back, to return, or to strike back.

So ribattitore is literally the one who hits back / returns. In sports, its most natural English translation depends on the situation:

• in tennis-like contexts: returner
• in baseball/softball-like contexts: batter
• more generally: receiver or returning player

So the exact English word depends on the sport, but grammatically it is just a masculine singular noun.

Because il ribattitore is a direct object, and direct objects in Italian normally do not take a preposition.

So:

• Il rimbalzo sorprende il ribattitore = The bounce surprises the returner

Compare that with an indirect object, where Italian would often use a:

• Il rimbalzo dà un vantaggio al ribattitore = The bounce gives an advantage to the returner

But with sorprendere, the affected person is a direct object, so no a is used.

Yes, but the basic order Il rimbalzo sorprende il ribattitore is the most neutral and natural.

Italian can change word order for emphasis, but that can make the sentence feel more marked or literary. For example:

• Il ribattitore lo sorprende il rimbalzo
  This is possible in some contexts, but it is much less neutral and often needs special intonation or context.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

• subject + verb + object

So this sentence is a good standard model.

Because that is simply their grammatical gender in Italian.

• rimbalzo is a masculine noun
• ribattitore is also masculine

That is why both use il in the singular.

If you were referring to a feminine person for the second noun, the form might change depending on the word used in context. But as given, ribattitore is masculine singular.

It is pronounced roughly like sor-PREN-de.

A few helpful points:

• the stress is on pren
• the final e is pronounced, not silent
• Italian pronunciation is usually clearer and more consistent than English spelling

So it sounds like three clear parts:

• sor
• PREN
• de

A rough guide is:

• rimbalzo ≈ reem-BAL-tso
• ribattitore ≈ ree-bat-tee-TO-re

A few details:

• in rimbalzo, z here sounds like ts
• in ribattitore, the double tt should be held a little longer than a single t
• the stressed syllable in ribattitore is to

Italian stress matters, so saying ribattiTOre is much better than flattening all the syllables equally.

The plural would be:

I rimbalzi sorprendono i ribattitori.

Changes:

• il rimbalzo → i rimbalzi
• sorprende → sorprendono
• il ribattitore → i ribattitori

So you can see that both the articles and the verb change to match the plural subject.

It is mostly regular in the present tense, and sorprende follows a common pattern for -ere verbs.

Present tense:

• io sorprendo
• tu sorprendi
• lui/lei sorprende
• noi sorprendiamo
• voi sorprendete
• loro sorprendono

So in your sentence, sorprende matches il rimbalzo, which is third person singular.