Smartphones, smart TVs, smart cars… Smart tennis racquets?
Yep!
Sony Corporation recently partnered with top tennis manufacturer Wilson, as well as Prince, Head, and Yonex, and together they developed the Smart Tennis Sensor, which is available now to take player control to a whole new level!
Your racquet, fitted with Sony’s SSE-TN1W Smart Tennis Sensor, will connect with your smart device to make it easier than ever to track your tennis performance accurately. Analyse, review, share, and compare your progress against concrete targets, keeping yourself motivated to continue your way toward your ace play!
The Sony Smart Tennis Sensor is very simple to set up and doesn’t involve any distracting or uncomfortable equipment, so you can focus on what matters most at that moment – your match. After you have finished playing, you can use the data and analysis to improve your technique for the next time. — Marc DiPizzo, Sales and Marketing Europe
Photo courtesy of Wilson Sports
The Smart Tennis Sensor itself is very small (17.6 mm tall and 31.3 mm in diameter) and designed to plug into the bottom of select Wilson, Prince, Head, and Yonex racquets. It’s lightweight too, at only 8 grams, so it doesn’t affect your swing or feel any differently than a regular racket.
Key Product Details
The sensor fits into the butt cap on the racquet and is compatible with:
- Wilson
- Head
- Prince
- Yonex
The sensor measures:
- Number of shots
- Ball impact spot
- Swing type
- Swing speed
- Ball speed
- Ball spin
In other words, The Smart Tennis Sensor turns your tennis racquet into a data-collecting, performance-tracking computer.
But that’s not all. It then takes that data, analyzes your technique, and provides an in-depth recap through real-time shot visualizations, recorded video, and detailed shot metrics – all of which are instantly available to view on any iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. As you might expect, you can also broadcast your progress to all of your friends via the social network of your choice.
And for you players who are concerned about league rules – NO WORRIES! It’s ITF-approved! Access to the Smart Tennis Sensor is permitted during the period when coaching is permitted. Even when coaching is not permitted, its usage in memory mode is permitted.
One thing to note is that Sony’s SSE-TN1W Smart Tennis Sensor only fits onto Wilson, Prince, Head, and Yonex racquets that are made for them – not all of them. So, you might need to purchase a new racquet as well, but for something as awesome as this, I say it’s worth it!
It’s available for purchase right now through Wilson US/Canada and Wilson International retailers. Here is a very informative video product review demonstrating the ease of installation and use. I really want one of these! How ’bout you?
