Tennis and tech: A match made in heaven?

Tennis, the world's healthiest sport, but also one that requires a lot of technique, training, and of course a partner or an opponent to play against

Well, tech is trying to change that, and I'm trying out $5,000 worth of tennis gadgets to see if they're worth it

So I'm a recreational player who mainly plays to have fun and get better

Tennis is fun after all. But sometimes I don't have someone to hit with

That's why I want to try out some gadgets like this one to train and hopefully improve

Enter the PongBot ball machine. If you don't got a partner to play with, you can still go out and train

Now you're probably thinking, ball machines have been out for decades. Why is this one any different

Well, it is these sensors. So these two blue sensors, you connect them to the net

Then this one goes right on your person. So since you're wearing one, it basically knows where you are

So the cool thing about these sensors is the ball machine will stop feeding when I'm not in the ready position zone

and when I get back there, it'll start up again. Now, like all smart devices nowadays

there is an app that you can get and it'll track where you are, give you some stats

obviously control the device from your phone, which is pretty nice, and a lot more

Like all ball machines, this one is great for playing alone and in theory, hitting more balls

should make you better at tennis. Serving is part of the game that is most uniquely tennis

Now, the next training tool I wanted to look into is a radar gun because I've always wanted to know

how fast I can serve the tennis ball. And this is something that you can easily, you know

improve upon with tweaks and techniques and having the metric, which gives you a stat

a real number, and you know if you're actually making progress or not. This pocket radar device I've been testing

is small enough to fit in your bag and serving in general is an activity

that you can practice alone. So now you can whip this thing out and start measuring your serves

have an actual statistic that you can compare and see if you are making progress

Oh, it's the toss. Yes, the toss is my weakness. Now I gotta say, this thing is super fun

but it might be a bit dangerous because after using it I just start wanting to hit the ball as hard as I possibly can which might lead to injuries Maybe that just a me problem but maybe bringing this thing out every month two months so you can see your baseline numbers

and see if you're improving, that could be the way to go with this one. Now, besides the small form factor

the coolest thing about this device is how versatile it is. So if you're doing other activities or games or sports

where you need to measure the speed of something, you can whip this thing out and use it

When you think of sports, technology isn't the main thing that comes to mind, but in terms of tennis, it plays a major factor

Almost all of the professional tennis events are adjudicated by robotic line calls

Live electronic line calling has made the sport of professional tennis more or less completely objective

Not you, French Open! In tennis, Sony's Hawkeye systems use 10 to 12 specialized high-speed cameras

positioned around the perimeter of the court to triangulate the ball's 3D trajectory

The system maps the ball's 3D position frame by frame with millimeters of accuracy

Hawkeye says the equipment for one court costs nearly $100,000 and takes about three days to set up

The cameras track the ball in 340 frames per second and transfer images immediately to the Hawk Nest

where the in-or-out call is made. For this reason, almost every major tennis tournament has ditched traditional line judges in favor of technology

Now, while normal people like you and I probably won't have access to the tech the pros use

there are some more affordable line-calling gadgets that are accessible to the masses

Swing Vision is an app for automated scoring, stats, highlights, and line calls

and it can even measure your serve speed. Then you have Baseline Vision, which is similar in name, but a different company

but it does a similar thing, more geared towards tournament runners or coaches

It offers tennis game ysis, gamified drills, but the thing that I care most about is the automatic line calls

Baseline Vision connects right to the tennis net post, and it's basically like a little computer with internal storage

store all your videos, and it communicates to your phone via an app

SwingVision uses your phone on this pole mounted to a fence to measure all of the stats and then it saves to your device So with either of these options you can start to live like a pro and experience the world of more objective line calls Swing Vision has a challenge feature for connected devices and Baseline Vision has a built speaker that will yell audibly

ah, when the ball is out. And of course, you can review the tape and check for yourself

Now take these cameras with a grain of salt, but sometimes it's better than bad call Bobby at your local tennis club

And finally we have the Sabre, which is an on-court tennis training aid that plays like a normal racket with a much smaller head size

This is what I like to call the Widowacket And it is the same weight as a normal tennis racket

And it's got the same sweet spot area as a normal tennis racket

But just a watt widower Now this is probably my favorite device in terms of a fun factor

Where is it? Where is it? Wah! So the whole goal behind this thing is that you're just training your sweet spot

so then when you go back to a normal size racket, you should be hitting everything in the center

So, would I recommend any of these tech tennis gadgets? Of course I would

If you have unlimited money to spend, I say get them all, also get a ton of lessons

join a bunch of clubs, and get a million tennis balls while you're at it. But are they worth the money

Let's answer that question. Let's start it off with the Pong Bot. If you're looking to play alone and improve your game, this thing is going to check both of those boxes

And I like the fact that it has those smart features and that sensor, because that is, you know, something a little more techie, something I haven't seen before, and it should help you

But $2,000 is a lot of money, especially when there are cheaper options out there

You can always rent a ball machine from your local club. If you do have friends to play with, I would rather play with them

If you do have leagues to join, I would rather spend the money there. And if you don't have either of those, I would look into the good old-fashioned wall

You just need a flat wall. It's usually free. You can usually play as long as you want

But if you're getting a little serious, it might be worth it for you. Next up, we have the radar gun. And at $400, that's a lot of money to spend just to know how fast you're serving or hitting the ball

To me the radar gun seems like it would be great for coaches or anyone who really trying to take the next step But if you just an average person I don think you really need it And at I don think it really worth the price

Next up, we have the SwingVision app and stick. And the best part about this one is that you can try it out for free

so you can use it for yourself and decide if it is even something that you'd ever use again

For me, putting it on the stick, putting it up there, I got a lot out of it. It's fun, especially if you can get your partner or opponent to agree

to let you film the whole match. That's pretty fun, especially if you have, you know

a point that's under contention. That can be really fun. If you got any of those, post them

I wanna see that. But is this one worth the money? I would say definitely you can try it out

You've got your phone. You can do the free version. The subscription thing is kind of a bummer

but you can always cancel. Next up, we have the Baseline Vision, which is basically swing vision on ultra steroids

And this is another $2,000 product. Now, I talked to the people behind this device

and their market isn't the average everyday person. They're looking for people running clubs

they're looking for tournament directors, and they're looking for coaches. So if you're any one of those people

it might be worth it for you, but if you're just an average person, definitely skip this one. And finally, we have the functional tennis saber

and the saber does have a novelty to it, but it just feels so good when you're using it

and since it is so portable, and you can throw it in any bag, and it'll just look like a normal racket

it's cool to have around. For 200 bucks though, that's a hefty price tag

And unless you're taking tennis seriously, I would probably pass on this thing

I like to think of the Sabre as the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae

So the brownie and the cookie and the ice cream and the whipped cream, that is all the tennis gear that you need, like balls and shoes and the right racket

And if you don't have any of that and you're just eating a cherry, it's not going to be a pleasant experience

But if you have all that, you deserve a little cherry on top. So that's the tech in tennis

I know I didn't cover every gadget, gizmo, robot, or camera, but, you know, maybe in the future

If you happen to enjoy this video, hit the thumbs up button, share to a friend, and you know what

Roast me in the comments. Roast my form. You know, what can I get better at

Let's all get better together. Let's improve. Big shout out to all the products in this video, and thanks for watching