There are eight indoor hard courts at the National Tennis Center in Melbourne, Australia. At the very end of the bank sits Court 8, one of only three courts in the world outside of professional tournaments that is outfitted with Hawk-Eye.
The ball-tracking technology is most known for its line-calling capabilities, but it can also tabulate reams of shot data including ball speed, spin and location that can be applied to a variety of training purposes.
Tennis Lab uses it to fit you with the right racquet.
Originally called Racquet Room, it started as a Tennis Australia research project. Using Hawk-Eye data, they wanted to see what insights could be drawn from racquets, strings and equipment. They took about 50 players—from touring pros like Sam Stosur down to rank novices—and put them through a series of shot evaluations using a group of blacked-out racquets. When the players gave their feedback, they didn’t know what was what.
“That was the aha moment,” said Lyndon Krause, Racquet Sports Equipment Manager for Tennis Australia. “Especially working with Sam. She literally said to us, after the first 10 shots with a new racquet: How was I using the other one for my whole career?”
Stosur was not alone. The research team found big improvements across the board. Players were using the wrong equipment for their games and for all the wrong reasons.
When they started working with high-level juniors at their national academies, the results were equally promising.
“Then we came to a realization: Why don’t we open this to the general public and offer it as a service?” said Krause. “Because if they’re it getting wrong at that top level, it’s probably even worse for everyone else.”
