ITF tennis to permit 'smart' equipment

[Iona16]

ITF AGM changes Rules of Tennis to permit ‘smart’ equipment

http://www.10sballs.com/2013/07/29/itf-agm-changes-rules-of-tennis-to-permit-smart-equipment/

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) today announced that the Rules of Tennis had been amended to permit the use of ‘Player Analysis Technology’ during play. The new rule was approved at the recent ITF AGM in Paris on Friday 12 July, and will be included in the 2014 edition of the Rules of Tennis as Rule No. 31.

Player Analysis Technology includes any equipment that collects, stores, transmits, analyses or communicates information on player performance, and may be a stand-alone device or incorporated within existing equipment.

The ITF will approve all Player Analysis Technology that may be used during play, a function that it already fulfils for tennis balls. The data collected by Player Analysis Technology constitutes coaching under the Rules of Tennis, and therefore the use of such technology during play is restricted in accordance with the existing Coaching rule. This means that a player may not have access to data collected by Player Analysis Technology during play.

 

[Grossefavourite]

Yet another example of legalized doping for players from wealthy countries. Financial disparity and freedom of travel already give them a huge advantage over players from poorer or impoverished nations.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

^ wow....

you actually have a point there.

as a side-note, i think it's horribly gimmick-y. not saying that it won't work - it most likely will, at least in the long run. basically what we have here is the result of some brilliant lobbying by the racquet manufacturing folks, who announced this kind of technology just a couple of months ago.

 

[Grossefavourite]

^ wow....

you actually have a point there.

as a side-note, i think it's horribly gimmick-y. not saying that it won't work - it most likely will, at least in the long run. basically what we have here is the result of some brilliant lobbying by the racquet manufacturing folks, who announced this kind of technology just a couple of months ago.

They've all but admitted it's a PED--Performance Enhancing Device.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

^ well, i wouldn't put it *that* drastically it'll give the teams data to work with, and they might be able to tweak the motions - but mostly, the material. in itself, the move isn't that dramatic, i think. the technology seems affordable as well in this day and age. however, to draw the right conclusions means you need more experts to work on it. and generally, i reckon that the constant feedback (à la race car analytics) will most like increase the relevance of racquet technology changes, which then in turn could further drive the cost factor.

 

[August]

I don't like about this, things like this make are making the game more about technology. Maybe I'm too much of a purist, we're living in the 21st century.

^ wow....

you actually have a point there.

as a side-note, i think it's horribly gimmick-y. not saying that it won't work - it most likely will, at least in the long run. basically what we have here is the result of some brilliant lobbying by the racquet manufacturing folks, who announced this kind of technology just a couple of months ago.

I'd love to have some restrictions on racquet/string technology. Maybe going back to previous decades' racquets would be too controversial, players would threaten with boycotts, etc. But I believe freezing the racquet/string development would be OK for players. But I doubt it could ever happen, racquet manufacturers would be against that.

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

^ yeah, no doubt about it, that would never fly. you'd basically kill a multi-million dollar industry. and the thing is, there are always also improvements made to protect the health and increase the comfort of the players, so optimizing the material will always have to be allowed, to a degree.

of course, there are restrictions in place anyway, just regarding more 'extreme' cases - think of the Spaghetti strings.

the 'smart' change is something different, as it doesn't change the game and strokes themselves, but the more general settings of the system.

so yeah, i don't think it's wise. you're spot on, it does increasy the technology aspect, of course. and it'll blow up the cost for sure, more than i thought at first. again, one such racquet probaly won't be drastically more expensive - but if a player is to use such a racquet in a match, then ALL his racquets would have to be such racquets (because otherwise the handling would be different). irrelevant for the top 20, top 50 guys and gals... but once you get down to the journeymen, it just keeps adding up.