How AI Impacts Racquet Sports Now and the Times Ahead

Transform today, into the AI-powered, thriving, and fun racquets community social network of the future

Author

Cesar O. Andrade
June 26, 2024

Meet Ai, The Other Player On The Court! If we thought that the last 5 decades’ computing revolution and derivative internet explosion were literally mind-blowing, we ain't seen nothing yet! The incoming human, social, and economic impact of AI - everywhere, including racquet sports - will be magnitudes above and beyond. As a racquet sports technology investor, innovator, and provider, I am on a mission to monitor, learn, and share facts, concerns, and benefit outcomes.

To illustrate, I recently came across a simple but mind-numbing piece of information at an AI forum conducted by Catherine Duddy Wood, on Why AI will Spark Exponential Economic Growth. She is an eminently qualified, investor and founder, CEO of ARK Invest, named the best stock picker by Bloomberg News.

She substantiated that by 2030 today's $13 Trillion global equity market valuation from AI platforms’ transformative and disruptive innovation derivatives, shall become a $200 Trillion bonanza.

An exponential 40% CAGR never before seen in the history of global economics! … Wow!!  I had to ask myself what proportion of such AI-enabled bonanza shall benefit the players and providers of racquet sports? Will tennis adopt and benefit from a fair share of it, or - once again - ride sleeping at the wheel the wave of amazing benefits all other industries are capitalizing upon?  And, I say "once again" because, by all observations, as an industry, it is still struggling to join even the first waves of the information technologies revolution. Just last week, we saw authorities in a global grand slam semifinal match refusing to cure a blatant referee's human error using basic line-calling digital technology!

So, provided we are evolving, willing and able to assimilate and adopt what some are calling the "digital species" into our culture as required to share in the bonanza tsunami; let me share a glimpse of emerging AI-enabled capabilities and benefits racquet sports can achieve now and the times to come:

Scorekeeping & Self Refereeing

Community tennis and derivative racquet sports are played worldwide by nearly 150 Million players supported by an honor code, where players accept each other's self-refereeing calls and scorekeeping. Historically, the practice has served and worked pretty well - until it does not, and self-refereeing errs or becomes self-serving!

Human weaknesses and error-prone behaviors ruin plenty of matches and even friendships. Ai-enabled innovations are emerging to save these matches and friendships.

With intelligent courts, camera-enabled systems and now wearable smartwatch apps to finger click points scoring, all players in singles or doubles matches can see and monitor live display of current scores and accept match and competition event results accordingly.

Finding Players

It never ceases to amaze me that with all the social networks out there, most racquet sports players, and particularly tennis, cannot find new matches. We are invisible to each other! Even worse if you are a learning player.

This is a significant measure because to have an enjoyable match, players must be location, ratings, time, and dates compatible, plus - the big one - open to be invited. This data is variable and fluctuating to the extent that general-purpose social networks do not work.

AI-enabled networking and dedicated digital species assistants are coming to the rescue; enabling players to share their compatibility particulars and signal their status open\closed to be invited, discoverable by GPS location. They are powering the creation of truly interactive, fun, intelligent social networks of racquet community players, thus now visible to one another! Further, with location-centric access to other available services like lessons, social, and competition events from local providers.

Supporting Player Learning and Development Process

Ai-assisted coaching is already upon us, systems to augment exponentially the human vision and observation capabilities.

Analytics, as it is called, is becoming highly affordable to most coaches and players. Using mobile cameras, and multilayered video input to AI algorithms, coaches, and players can analyze vast amounts of data about games, practice sessions, opponents, and key performance indicators to identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop strategies.

Plus: making informed decisions in real-time; redefining the way everyone experiences racquet matches and training practices.

The Intelligent Court

In the beginning, the human eyes and intelligence were the one and only species capable of making a line call - and we know how much grief that brought about to all participants. So, early AI pioneers - before the term AI was even recognized - began creating digital assistants to help with the thankless task of making accurate - nearly infallible - line calls.

Starting with, the British inventor Paul Hawkins' Hawk-Eye in 1999. By 2024 more event providers, and even individual players, can use affordable - costing less than one top-of-the-line Wilson or Babolat racquet - AI-enabled, compact line calling systems, like inventor Gregoire Gentil's In/Out.

Moving forward, there are multiple initiatives to bestow racquet courts with "smart paints" providing sensory input to AI engines to do line calling and assist match scoring. Also, statistical control digital assistants are emerging to manage court time apportionment to players so that reservation per user is fair and equitable - the end of court hogging, if you will.

Event Management

A member of the digital species is taking over a multitude of tasks that burden the leaders, staff, and players participating in racquet sports events such as leagues, ranking ladders, & elimination tournaments.

These events, while enjoyable to everyone, are a royal headache to scarce, staff, and leaders - expensive human resources - who must manage all logistics, communications, records, and event details while concurrently, in real-time, providing personal support as needed for success. The AI-enabled digital assistants are here to the rescue, omnipresent in every court by way of wearable watch scorekeepers, tracking scores and results and creating draws with player contenders and court assignments automatically.

Human mobility

Ai-enabled mobility devices will become part of players’ equipment sanctioned for competition by all sports governing bodies. Brain-wheel chair motion command capabilities will enable players to auto-propel themselves as required for play. Even more so, exoskeleton robotic bionic legs will likely create new variations of the sport for mobility and visually impaired players. Who can then also enjoy pickleball, padel, and other racquet sports as well.

Where is the fun?

Thinking that AI-powered advancements will diminish the joy of playing and watching racquet sports? Consider our life today without mobile phones, or the internet. Things that make us humans more omnipresent, instantly knowledgeable, and well-informed; exponentially growing our capacity for joy and leisure time in our lives. And, no more moaning and groaning about bad line calls, either!

Your role and your serve!

You are invited to join, adapt, and profit with the AI bonanza; innovate and lead your racquets' community to achieve exponential player participation and business income growth. Transform today, into the AI-powered, thriving, and fun racquets community social network of the future, perhaps empowered by Racquets! AppSuite™

Cesar O. Andrade

Cesar is the Founder and CEO & Chief Marketing Officer of TerraComSortium | Creators of the Racquets! AppSuite™, a multilingual digital assistant mobile app providing racquet sports players and their community organizations, with easy-to-use self-service organizing, scorekeeping, ladder keeping draw, and managing tennis leagues & tournaments plus court reservations and lessons booking modules.