The Happiness Project: Leveraging Technology in Tennis

This weekend’s final topic in the (Tennis) Happiness Project is on mastering a new technology in pursuit of your passions. Like every other post in this series, this topic was sparked by Gretchen Rubin in her New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project.  Leveraging technology has always come naturally to me, and I am typically an early adopter of technical innovations. That tendency is evident here on the blog, where I’ve been very transparent about how I utilize generative AI, both as a muse and as editorial assistance when drafting my posts.

From my perspective, one of the great joys of experimenting with new technology is discovering new ways to see myself and the game. Working with generative AI has been a particularly rewarding extension of that curiosity. I’ve leaned on it to shape drafts, refine language, and even push me toward ideas I might not have arrived at on my own. As a recent example, I asked what an INTJ (my Myers-Briggs personality type) would look like as a tennis player. The resulting profile was both accurate and surprisingly insightful. It made me reflect not only on my tendencies as a competitor but also on how technology can hold up a mirror that helps us grow.

But here’s where I need to further focus the spotlight on myself. For all my affinity for new tools, I have to confess that there are two relatively recent innovations I haven’t been using nearly enough. My excuse is simple: my life is busy, and there never seems to be enough time to play with technical toys. Yet the truth is that by neglecting them, I’m missing opportunities to be more efficient and more intentional about my improvement.

The first technology is video analysis. Every single time I watch even a short clip of myself hitting, I learn something new about my stroke mechanics, movement patterns, or tactical decisions. It’s the closest thing to having an honest coach that I trust implicitly. I don’t use it enough because setting up a camera, transferring the file to a device with a bigger screen, and carving out time for a proper review takes time. Too often, even when I take on court video, my attention span runs out before I get to the point of actually watching the footage.

The second, and even more damning, technology that I am failing to leverage consistently is SwingVision. This app has the remarkable ability to cut out all the “dead time” between points and changeovers, condensing a two-hour match into something that can be reviewed in a fraction of the time. It’s a dream tool for analysis. Unfortunately, even when I capture video on another device, the import and processing step slows me down enough that I often don’t follow through. I know I should structure a way to make this process part of my routine, but so far, I haven’t. Admitting that feels embarrassing, because the long-term benefits are patently obvious.

So here’s where I’m turning the question outward. What tennis technology do you have at your fingertips that you’re not using to its greatest benefit? Maybe it’s a training aid sitting in the corner of your garage, a fitness tracker you only half pay attention to, or a software tool like SwingVision that could transform your understanding of your game if you gave it a real chance. Pursuing a passion sometimes means taking the leap not just into new toys, but into the discipline of using them well. I’d love to hear what’s on your list.

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Throughout 2025, I am dedicating the first full weekend of every month to exploring how ideas from Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project (<- Sponsored Link) can spark greater enjoyment and happiness in tennis. This is a non-tennis book that I have come to believe everyone should read. Seriously, you should get your hands on a copy of this book and consider trying some of the techniques described by the author.

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun (<- Sponsored Link)