The Tennis Apps for Covid 3.0

Sharapova's Skills, Team TopCourt and others are here to improve your game. Do they?

The pandemic brought a bit of pandemonium to the tennis world in the early stages. The majority of pros had just landed at Indian Wells to train for the “Fourth Slam”, when the novel coronavirus forced them all to disband and hole up in their home countries. But pros have an energy level not known to most mortals, as seen in a former post, Tennis Pros in Social Isolation. And they don’t do well when bored. Ahem, Stan Wawrinka. So how to use up some time, your skills and make some money? Teach. Or join a social media platform that offers players a script, a camera and an outlet to pass on their acumen to the armchair player.

But do these multimedia videos, offer the same level of benefit as a lesson as your local club? Not for beginners, at least.

“This tool is not going to be a great fit for everyone,” says Gui Hadlich, a former player at Pepperdine University and co-founder of My Tennis HQ. “That is not to say that people won’t be able to learn valuable tips from it. But platforms such as TopCourt should be purchased as an entertainment tool for fans wanting to learn more about their favorite players rather than as an online coaching tool.”

Other critics had added that learning from top touring professionals doesn’t always mean that students receive the best instruction. Those who are elite at a sport often don’t take into account that the average person can’t always pick up a new skill as easily as they have.

Regardless, as we are all still subjected to Covid lockdown, some training from a good-looking, fit, charismatic player on a slick, super-produced video platform can’t hurt. Here’s a look at a few of the sexy — and a few more basic — platforms out there.

Maria Sharapova, The Skills:

The recently retired Maria Sharapova took a good six months off the tennis tour (but not necessarily Instagram) before reappearing just recently as the tennis pro for “The Skills” a newly launched online sports education platform — a sort of MasterClass for jocks. With nearly $7 million in venture capital raised to date, The Skills — founded by Omer Atesmen, who thought up the venture while watching preparations for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics — features a cadre of other retired pro athletes instructing in their specialties, including Michael Phelps (swimming), Megan Rapinoe (soccer) and Shaun White (snowboarding).

Atesmen is not an athlete himself, but he liked how athletes “talk about how to handle pressure, how to think about leadership,” Atesmen has said. “Those are the stories that, when you ask our users — or even me, specifically — give me the biggest goosebumps.”

Sharapova’s particular specialty? Tennis Confidence & More, a few things the 33-year-old learned after her dad, Yuri, towed her over from Sochi, Russia to Bradenton, Florida for training at Nick Bolletieri’s IMG Academy in 1994 at age seven. Sharapova’s courses contain tidbits “about the smallest details” that go into peak tennis performance, which her previous all-consuming life as a pro athlete had not permitted.

The takeaway: with at least 20 sessions and 100 minutes of video content, you’ll likely learn something of value from Sharapova’s 18-year career on tour — maybe a detail about her first WTA tournament, the Pacific Life Open, during which she lost to Monica Seles in the second round — but doubtful much else. While the athletes have complete control over the curriculum they teach in each video, The Skills provides them with background and research, around which they build their classes. But homogenized tennis vs. homogenized tennis doesn’t make for any sort of competitive advantage.

Cost: $60 per year or $12 per month

Team TopCourt:

Before The Skills, there existed Team TopCourt — and the tennis gods rested on the seventh day.

Created by three former collegiate tennis players from UNC-Chapel Hill, Team TopCourt takes advantage of the large “bridge” between professional tennis players and their fans and sells its premise on “shortening” that link. 

After founding Raleigh-based TopCourt, in June 2020, the UNC players secured $1.25M in venture capital to entice long-retired players from Chris Evert and Lindsay Davenport to the young-and-good-looking, Taylor Fritz. “It seems as though the current circumstances have accelerated the ongoing shift towards digital platforms for learning and entertainment,” said key founder Taylor Meyer.

Meyer chooses his words carefully. In addition to calling Team TopCourt “entertainment”, as well as learning, he said the platform offers “tennis fans an authentic look into the life, mind, and performance of the game’s best players” — “authentic look” being the operative words. Users can pick drills and instructions from their favorite players, but otherwise the structure is pretty loose. But the production of TopCourt is top-notch, from court to camera.

While the salaries of each participating player have not been disclosed, Meyer had to entice some because no one “wants to be involved in something that doesn’t exist yet.” Still, he keeps aiming higher. “We would love to see Federer and Nadal get involved and join in on the mission, that would be fantastic for the game of tennis and a real blast to work with them," Meyer said.

The takeaway: Sure, which recreational player doesn’t think about WWSD (What Would Serena Do) when hoping to ace their rival on the other side of the net. But TopCourt is not suited for a beginner looking to fast-track their progress.

Cost: $15/month, billed annually

Play Your Court:

Play Your Court is one of the first tennis platforms to show up online. Run by a guy named Scott Baxter, a former player at the University of Maryland, Play Your Court aims to connect new players with local coaches and players on their level with convenient times and locations.

But Baxter and his friend, Nate Bolling, a former player at walked James Madison University and coach at the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach, Virginia, add new tennis videos with tips and tricks every week.

The takeaway: Scott and Nate have an instant rapport and their videos are fun and goofy at the same time. Anyone who has played tennis as a junior and who is now re-discovering the sport would surely appreciate the information on the website, including nearby courts, contact information for IRL coaches; and the ability to find a hitting partner — the top reason people quit tennis.

Cost: $5 per month. For a beginner it’s worth the money

Essential Tennis:

Essential Tennis makes the claim that is provides passionate instruction for passionate tennis players. That’s debatable, but Essential Tennis is a good place to start with its free video tennis lessons and tutorials, written articles, and pro footage of tennis players, such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.. Run by a pro names Ian Westermann out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Essential Tennis definitely suits players coming to the game for the first time and/or returning for the basics, such as footwork drills and shot finishing form.

Westermann, who taught at the Congressional Country Club and Georgetown Prep Club in Washington, DC, runs a show that well suits beginners. The USPTSA-certified coach and his team demonstrate drills, and afterward explains them on a white board, just in case you missed it. Video titles include: Stop Lying to Yourself (about your tennis game), Don’t Fear the Lob, and Kick Serve Won’t Kick — everything club players find useful.

The takeaway: Any site that offers free or low-cost drills that include footwork or racquet control is worth a look. The basics of the game often get neglected when a player becomes more advanced, so it is also good refresher course for better players.

Cost: Free, until players sign up for more.