Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty
Tennis is an old game, not the oldest of games, but certainly an old one. Part of what gives tennis an even older feel is the fact that it has been so resistant to change, but whether welcome or not, technology has played a large part in the changes in the sport of tennis over the years. The timeline of “Technology in Tennis” spans from wooden rackets to the wearables coming in the immediate future. Every facet of tennis has been affected, not just our tools. Technology has been applied to surfaces, officiating, fitness and even to the spectators watching the sport. We are, at this moment, living in a time that might be privy to the greatest technological influence in tennis ever. Although tennis has been hesitant to accept the changes brought about by technology, we are living in more enlightened times and the future looks very bright. All the changes coming on the horizon are primed to revolutionize the sport by making tennis more accessible and easier than ever to see improvements.
Tennis is resistant to change
Let’s think about how the game used to be played. We don’t have to start at the very beginning … let us begin in the humble time of long pants and wooden rackets. The game saw a much different style of athletic wear and equipment. It was not as typical to see your casual game being played outside of a club atmosphere. It’s somewhat comical to think about the game being played in long khaki pants. The wooden racket might have been the height of technology in those days, but we soon moved to our recent past and into a dichotomous change—short shorts and metal rackets. The advantages are obvious, and anything that makes a player more competitive on the court is going to be deemed valuable, regardless of convention. Today, we see the racket companies promoting new rackets made of new material every year. Clothing in tennis has become big business, with moisture wicking and stay-dry technology making their way into our sport’s lexicon. On the court, we see new, computerized methods of officiating with the advent of shot-spot technology, a technology not wholly approved by one Roger Federer. The sport has also become more accessible to a broader audience, thanks to advances in technology. The best, and most recent, example is the low compression balls being used in USTAs 10 & Under program. Will this produce more champions for the United States? Only time will tell, but one thing for certain is that kids enjoy playing the game more when they use these special balls.
Fast-forward to present day
Today, you can book court time at clubs online. We also have the blessing of camera systems invented specifically for stroke analysis, and soon on the horizon, we will have tennis wearables. Wearables is one category that I am most excited about. A wearable is a fairly new classification of gadget that blends an old functionality into a new physical product through digital means. One example is the new wearable watches that have the capability to function as a heart monitor, pedometer, sleep analyzer, as well as tell time.
Booking a court at a club used to be an exercise in frustration. You don’t know what availability the club has, and so you go back and forth with a surly front desk person. You throw out dates and times, hoping to find the right combination and for them to pencil you in for an hour. Hopefully that will all be over soon as some clubs have moved to a system that puts their court time and schedule available online. The system also gives users the ability to book courts online, so there’s never an issue. Oh future … you are looking so bright.
Booking courts online is nice, but what we’d really like is to get better. Enter high-speed video playback. Systems have been created to record players, even at the amateur level to analyze their game. Although not widely available, it does exist. It’s important because there are several things happening when you play tennis and execute your strokes. A great coach can see more than top players because they have experience at critical tennis analysis and because they know what they are looking for. No two forehands are identical, but there are good rules of thumb to tennis strokes. The rules of thumb allow a player to get the maximum result with the least amount of effort, this is good technique. An example would be to make contact in front of your body for maximum energy transfer on forehands. High-speed footage allows both players and coaches to make changes that can help a player move the needle of improvement faster.
Sure, you can see what’s going on with high-speed footage, but can we quantify that; yes … yes we can. Tools have been created to quantify stroke metrics, such as a ball’s spin (rpms), speed, (mph), your distance traveled (miles), and stroke volume (number of backhands hit, etc.). This technology is small enough to put into a wearable (on your body) or on your racket. It syncs with a mobile app that you and/or your coach can then use to analyze. It gives you an accurate quantitative representation of where your game is so that you can take these metrics and data points and bend them in a positive way towards where you want to be.
Living in the 21st Century has been a story of digital disruption. The “Digital Age” has come to tennis though not to disrupt it, but rather to supplement it. We should embrace these changes rather than resist them, as the sport has in the past. Accepting these advances and taking advantage of them will make for better players, and reduce friction in regard to getting into the sport and playing it. I, for one, am very much looking forward to what else is on the horizon for us.
