Tennis Racket of the future - Does it have a use in the professional game?

Do you want to be able to master the court like Nadal or attack your opponents with Tsonga's aggression?

Babolat's new high-tech racquets won't turn you into a world champion but it can improve them by capturing and analysing your strokes and comparing them to the world's greatest as well as against your friends. The Babolat Play Pure Drive "connected" rackets looks and plays just like their regular counterparts but there are sensors built into the handle to measure your every swing, spin and serve.

The only indicator that this is not "just another racket" is in the extra buttons and LED lights located at the bottom of the handle. You can open a cover here to reveal a micro-USB port for charging and syncing. A full charge lasts for around six to seven hours.
The sensors in the handle capture everything about a player’s movements, from stroke type, technique, power and impact location of the ball.

After the game, you simply have to sync the racket to an app on your Apple or Android mobile device via Bluetooth or via a USB cable to your PC. You will then be able to see how many serves, forehands, backhands and smashes you have made in a nice visual format. and compare the stats against friends and tennis idols.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/technology/story/ces-2014-babolat-launches-world’s-first-connected-tennis-racket-20140


Would this serve a purpose in the professional game? Obvious Players could not use it to look at data mid-match but it would help Coaches identify player issues and to see how their improving on their game.

Might get one of these. Would be nice to see precisely why half my forehands fly into the fence!

Why do I feel like a Luddite?

I wonder how long the sensors & memory storage device lasts.  It has to last the pounding, the dropping, the sweat, the humidity. Before it completely breaks down it probably rapidly loses its calibration.  And I wonder what it means by "measurement".

It seems to be some sort of classification plus count device (distinguishing between forehand, backhand, slam and serve). Hmm I would like to know how it could distinguish between backhand & forehand.

Nore Staat wrote:I wonder how long the sensors & memory storage device lasts.  It has to last the pounding, the dropping, the sweat, the humidity. Before it completely breaks down it probably rapidly loses its calibration.  And I wonder what it means by "measurement".

It seems to be some sort of classification plus count device (distinguishing between forehand, backhand, slam and serve).  Hmm I would like to know how it could distinguish between backhand & forehand.

I am looking forward to such racquets that have an encrypted wifi link to a coach in the stands (or half way across the world) and he/she can actually hit ball instead of the player on the court.

I expect an iPhone/Android app to very soon hit the market for interfacing with such racquets too. The slam finals would need battery chargers right next to the players chairs as well.

Hahahaha, also when balls is out, handle will vibrate so you dont have to challenge and look like an idiot.

Gonzalez and Safin could have saved a lot of bother with self-vaporising racqets which disappear in a puff of blue smoke when they recognise that they are being swung at the ground or a chair or some other solid object (including Youzhny's head for example).

Nothing makes up for good strokes, hand eye coordination, touch and timing. This sounds like a prototype gimmick to me.

I already fell for the Nike fuel gimmick, fool me once and all that.

kingraf wrote:I already fell for the Nike fuel gimmick, fool me once and all that.

It is like the protypes they do for car shows that look all sexy and have all these unusual bells and whistles but never see regular production. They just want to steal some attention at a convention or something.

If it worked, would you use it socal? You once said you looked forward to the days of bionic tennis players iirc.

barrystar wrote:Gonzalez and Safin could have saved a lot of bother with self-vaporising racqets which disappear in a puff of blue smoke when they recognise that they are being swung at the ground or a chair or some other solid object (including Youzhny's head for example).

I can just imagine the racquet vanishing into thin air and the look of total bewilderment from Safin. Perfect.

Welcome back socal, stick around!

JuliusHMarx wrote:If it worked, would you use it socal? You once said you looked forward to the days of bionic tennis players iirc.

No I mean I am much to talented a ball striker to sell myself short like that, I want to play tennis not take a course in computer programming.

Interesting article about rackets. With apologies if already posted as haven't been following the forum that closely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/sports/tennis/is-change-good-federer-with-new-racket-to-find-out.html?action=click&contentCollection=Tennis&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

Apparently Babolat have put one of these rackets to the ITF for approval.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25857296

The ITF have already created a new rule that data cannot be analysed during the course of a match.

Having just read HB's link, I wonder if Federer gave Wilson some sort of time guarantee when he asked for the few racquet - Sounds like a lot of effort and money went into designing this specifically for Federer - Not something they'd do for a player planning to retire sharp-ish, no?

Maybe he paid them to do it - or they just didn't pay out all of the sponsorship money they were due to pay him. Either way he'd only do it if he was planning to stick around - he's always said he would.