In October, Bob Hilborn, the head pro at Scarborough East Tennis wrote an article for us about their tennis club becoming the first in Ohio to install PlaySight technology. Which, as a refresher, uses six cameras, three on each baseline, to record and digitally analyze each aspect of a tennis match.
My name is Jason Parks and I grew up playing tennis in Columbus, Ohio. I played second singles in high school and have played in 4.0 leagues ever since. Like most recreational players, there are days when I feel great about my game but the majority of the time I am frustrated by my inconsistency.
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I am going to explain to you how PlaySight has improved my game in a short timespan. By analyzing the PlaySight data, I was able to make changes to my game to improve on a week to week basis.
My name is Jason Parks and I grew up playing tennis in Columbus, Ohio. I played second singles in high school and have played in 4.0 leagues ever since. Like most recreational players, there are days when I feel great about my game but the majority of the time I am frustrated by my inconsistency.
I am going to explain to you how PlaySight has improved my game in a short timespan. By analyzing the PlaySight data, I was able to make changes to my game to improve on a week to week basis.
1. Serve
PlaySight will record every serve, the speed of the ball, the spot the ball hit the court and detailed reports on each set.
I never had a big serve. PlaySight made me realize that it was actually slower than I thought. I am barely able to break 80 MPH. This was somewhat depressing after the first week that I played but I decided to use PlaySight’s technology to my advantage. (don’t worry, I didn’t lose any sleep over my slow serve).
Even though I don’t have a fast first serve, accuracy is my strength. After looking at the PlaySight data, I realized that I win the majority of my points when I hit it to the opponents backhand.
I decided that my serve speed was irrelevant moving forward as long as my accuracy was on-point. In the chart below, you will notice that in my first match (which I lost), my first serve percentage was at 54%. In every match since, I have gradually increased my first serve with my personal best exceeding 73%.
If it weren’t for PlaySight, I would have never even noticed these trends.
2. Net Game
On a scale of 1-10, my confidence level at the net is a 5/10. I always prefer to stay home at the baseline versus coming up to the net to close out the point.
It wasn’t until I analyzed the PlaySight data that I realized that I won more games when I approached the net more than 20 times.
Each week, I now force myself to come to the net more often thanks to PlaySight.
It makes perfect sense that I win a high percentage of points at the net because I typically only approach the net off of a solid shot to my opponents backhand. I am finally forcing myself to come to the net, which continues to boost my confidence.
Now I just need to stop hitting my overheads into the net 
3. Longer Rallies
Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t have a powerful serve. My lack of power applies to other areas of my game as well but I never realized this too often before PlaySight. I started to notice a trend that I would constantly win the majority of points that went over 6 strokes. Below, you can see a chart of my most recent match, which I won in a three-set tiebreaker.
After noticing this trend after each one of my matches, I made more of a concerted effort to take the rallies longer. My speed and return of serve is a strength in my game and now I have data to back me up on a strategy to extend the point.
4. Room For Improvement
Legendary coach Nick Bollettieri stated the following in his tennis handbook:
“If you focus on creating winners at every opportunity, you will beat yourself with errors in the end. Nothing feels better than hitting the outright winner, but nothing feels worse than turning a perfect opportunity into an unforced error.”
After playing five matches using the PlaySight technology, I have 42% percent winner to unforced error ration. I mentioned earlier that I get frustrated with my lack of consistency. PlaySight provides me with a benchmark to constantly improve my game as I am now looking to exceed a 50% winners/unforced errors ratio during each one of my matches.
Before PlaySight, after a win or loss, I might analyze my game for a total of 60 seconds before turning on the radio in my car and shifting my focus to sports talk radio. The PlaySight Technology at Scarborough provides you with the opportunity to study and analyze my game. I am able to dig into the key analytics to determine my strengths and weaknesses and adjust my game accordingly.
Additionally, there is video footage which let’s watch the entire match to see whether or not I notice a trend in lazy footwork during points I lose versus shots that I win. If I had this technology when I was still in high school, my tennis game could have gone to the next level. All competitive tennis players should take advantage of PlaySight’s interactive SmartCourt technology.
Jason Parks is former tennis player and the owner of The Media Captain, a digital marketing agency based in Columbus.