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The Tennis Open Data Standard (TODS)

On By Teresa Merklin

Over the past couple of weeks the USTA has sent an inordinate number of email messages to its membership heralding the imminent arrival of the World Tennis Number. For anyone who has ever bothered to register with the ITF, the World Tennis Number is already here. It appears on the ITF player profile page. In order for that to work, the ITF has to be able to receive information from all its member organizations in some standardized format. That is where the Tennis Open Data Standard (TODS) comes in.

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New ATP WTA Live App

On By Teresa Merklin

The ATP and WTA tours have partnered to create a new app that provides tennis schedules, scores, and news. I loaded it to my phone over the weekend for a test drive and instantly fell in love. All serious tennis fans should load have this app loaded on their mobile devices. It make it so much easier to watch and follow professional tennis on both tours.

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Tennis Trunk Locker

On By Teresa Merklin

My tennis racquet bag tends to run on the heavy side because I carry a lot of gear onto the court that might be needed during a match. I also keep a lot of things in the back of my car that could be essential situationally or in between matches. Today I am providing a glimpse into the items I have at the ready as well as my system for organization.

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Future Shock: Injury Prediction in Tennis?

On By Teresa Merklin

The body is a complex system. Reflecting on aches and pains experienced before and after my recent foot injury has brought me to a new realization. It is highly likely that physical indicators were visible in my court movement and stroke mechanics for some time prior to my current injury. It is possible that artificial intelligence video analysis systems might soon be able to identify biomechanical breakdowns and warn of potential significant injury. I think this could happen within the next decade.

Leverage and Momentum in Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

A data and analytics research group will soon release a paper that studies momentum swings in tennis. “Live Counter- Factual Analysis in Women’s Tennis Using Automatic Key- Moment Detection” uses machine learning to predict how certain events in a match will play out before they occur. The paper defines some new metrics for tennis that could potentially extend the state of the art of analytic data analysis in tennis.

SwingVision: Importing Video

On By Teresa Merklin

The SwingVision artificial intelligence tennis training application is primarily designed to work directly on a smart phone. That implementation puts tremendous analysis power directly into the hands of the players and enables immediate feedback. However, the use of a smart phone during a USTA sanctioned match is prohibited. Additionally, many players may be reluctant to drain their phone’s battery in a tournament setting. Fortunately, SwingVision can import data captured from an alternate device. I recently tested out that functionality and was very pleased with the results.

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SwingVision and the Cone Game

On By Teresa Merklin

The “Cone Game” is one of my favorite tennis practice drills. It is a great development tool because it gets the players into an Zen-like focus that is still layered with the pressure of competition. I recently used the SwingVision during a practice session that included the Cone Game and was very happy with the results. I continue to be completely enamored with the SwingVision application and service.

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SwingVision is Transformational

On By Teresa Merklin

I finally got around to trying out SwingVision and was very impressed with the results. In fact, I immediately applied to be a brand ambassador for the product. I am absolutely kicking myself for not trying it out much sooner. As a strong proponent of video analysis, any technology that reduces the workload required for meaningful review is transformational.

That Hits the Spot

On By Teresa Merklin

Sometimes the best tennis training techniques are also the most simple. I am a big believer that every player should spend some amount of time in their practice sessions hitting shots to targets. That includes serves, groundstrokes, volleys, overheads, drop shots, etc. When I go a week without performing target drills, it shows up in my matches. It’s ugly.

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