SAP Tennis Analytics for coaches powered by SAP HANA gains traction

Davenport talks about her experience with SAP Tennis Analytics for coaches powered by SAP HANA.

Technology from SAP is making more information available to sporting fans around the world, from basketball and equestrian events to tennis. SAP technology underlies websites that present years of accumulated data in easily digestible form, for example.

With SAP's Leonardo Digital Innovation System, the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the US has made 90 years of information available online to fans. Jenni Lewis, head of tennis technology, SAP, said, "The problem was that they had all this information but didn't know what to do with it."

For equestrian events, fans had not been able to see the action. Today, sensors can be placed on the horses and a GoPro camera mounted on the rider's helmet so that competitors can be tracked as the go through the course, Lewis said. "We use the same technology for fleet management," she said.

When it comes to tennis, SAP has provided real-time analytics for the game for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is seeing traction among coaches and players for the technology. "The players want to access the data themselves," Lewis said, sharing an anecdote of a player who asked for a tablet to review gameplay to prove a hunch. "Players are getting used to it."

Lindsay Davenport, a former professional tennis champion who is currently coaching Madison Keys, currently ranked 16th in the world, said that SAP Tennis Analytics for coaches powered by SAP HANA has been invaluable to back up her advice to Keys. She noted that there are different learning styles. "Some need visuals, some get it by hearing it," she said. "Madison is a visual learner. She learns much better when she sees a certain shot."

Davenport said that the technology has been able to identify patterns in the way tennis players respond on the court. "You can show where the service is going," she said.

Davenport shares her own journey in tennis.
Watch a video snip.

SAP Tennis Analytics for coaches powered by SAP HANA has also been useful to analyse opponents' styles, and predict how a match can play out. "You can go back and track all these player's matches," she said. "When I played I had none of this...you had to scout a lot yourself and now this is so invaluable."

Coaches are beginning to delve deeper into the data, not only looking at serves, but serves that were missed, for example, or serves that went long or wide.

"Coaches are asking more analysis on the height of the ball – it's something the player can control," Lewis added.

A virtual reality scenario where players can practice throwing the ball to build muscle memory off the court is another request, she said.

Davenport concluded that it is all about helping players get the upper hand. "The screens help to tell a story," Davenport said. "You can sign in and look at what is happening live. More often than not there's a change of strategy (partway through the game) for a certain player. A trained eye can see that and now you can do that with SAP."

Explore:

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts where SAP announces SAP Tennis Analytics for media and what the response was like to SAP Tennis Analytics in 2015

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