- What is Zenniz?
- What Zenniz Can Be Used For?
- Key Features
- Easy Integration and Installation Process
- My Experiences with Zenniz
- Final Thoughts
- FAQ
Disclaimer: This post is written as a sponsored review in collaboration with Zenniz.
What is Zenniz?
Zenniz is an innovative Finnish Smart Tennis Court System approved by the ITF which includes:
- Smart net post with two large LED panels on both sides to display real time performance feedback and two integrated high-resolution cameras and an integrated touch screen.
- 30 audio sensors (microphones)
- 2 baseline cameras for recording and streaming gameplay
- Mobile app for players
- Mobile app for umpires
- Web dashboard for tournament organizers
What Zenniz Can Be Used For?
- Electronic and automatic line calling. Provides accurate line calls through auditory and visual data.
- Drills & Practices. Offers players various engaging groundstroke and serving drills.
- Data gathering. Gathers data from your gameplay which helps you track your progress such as stroke speed.
- Video recording. Record your practice sessions and matches that you can watch afterward.
- Tournament hosting. Offers tournament organizers software for tournament hosting.
Key Features
Zenniz has various features that make it potentially the most versatile electronic tennis line-calling system on the market.
Here’s a more detailed look at these features:
Dual Tracking Technology
Zenniz uses a patented Dual Tracking technology that combines visual and auditory data to make accurate line calls. The visual element of the Dual Tracking takes advantage of 30 audio sensors that are mounted around the tennis court. These audio sensors establish a precise audio triangulation system that tracks the ball’s impact point and the players’ movement and it is not affected by auxiliary noises.
The other standout feature of the Dual Tracking system is camera tracking. It consists of four high-quality cameras that are set up as follows:
- Two of the cameras are integrated inside the smart net post facing each side of the court. These two cameras track the ball’s impact points
- The other two cameras are mounted behind each baseline. The baseline cameras record and stream the gameplay
Zenniz’s Applications
Zenniz includes three different applications which are intended for tennis players, umpires, and tournament organizers.
1. Player’s App
The player’s app is for tennis players of all levels. It is available on the iOS and Android stores and it is free to use.
Practice Drills
The Zenniz player’s application offers interactive practice drills such as groundstroke and serving drills. Through these drills, players can practice their groundstroke consistency and serve accuracy. In the groundstroke and service drills the two LED panels on both sides of the Zenniz post display real time performance statistics such as shot speed and the number of errors.
Video Footage
The application is also able to record high-resolution video footage from the gameplay, thanks to the two baseline cameras on opposite sides of the court. Thanks to this, players have an option to easily watch and share their gameplay on their mobile apps after the session.
2. Umpire’s App
Zenniz also provides an Umpire’s App for official matches. With this app, the umpires can keep track of the match’s score and review line calls.
The umpires app works in conjunction with the Zenniz smart net post. This allows the umpire’s app to broadcast the score to the net post’s side screens for the players and audience to see in real time.
The net post’s side screens can also display the initials of the player’s name or team with the score.
I interviewed an umpire from the Finnish Teho Sport Tennis League. According to him, Zenniz combined with the umpires app has helped the umpire’s role greatly. As Zenniz takes care of the line calls, the players won’t argue with the umpire. This makes the umpire’s job less stressful. According to the umpire, Zenniz’s margin of error in the line calls is low.
The umpire also mentioned that the players have felt Zenniz as a key addition to their games.
3. Webdashboard
The web dashboard gives the tournament organizer tools to view live scores of ongoing matches, see match stats and videos of finished matches, create unique rulesets for tournaments that appear on the facilities Zenniz devices, and live-streaming controls
Easy Integration and Installation Process
Zenniz is easy to integrate into a tennis court. It only takes 3-6 hours.
To function Zenniz requires only a power source and an internet connection.
- During the integration process, the Zenniz unit is bolted firmly into the tennis court next to the net post.
- Then the audio sensors are placed around the court at the player’s height.
- Then, the baseline cameras are placed at a height of 3-5 meters above the court.
- Lastly, Zenniz is calibrated with the audio sensor system to track the movement of the ball and players.
Zennis offers full experience with low-speed wired or wireless connection. However, it is recommended to use a broadband connection to transfer video or stream games.
My Experiences with Zenniz
I tested Zenniz with two of my colleagues who provided me with honest feedback about their experiences with the system. Here’s how it went.
Playtest With The Advanced Opponent
I booked a court with Zenniz for two hours so I’d have enough time to test all of Zenniz’s features.
Before we started my colleague noticed that she had forgotten to download the Zenniz app and she had to create a new Zenniz profile for her. Luckily it was an easy install and creating the profile was easy and fast.
When you create a Zenniz profile you only need to add the essential information about yourself including:
- name
- dominant hand
- date of birth
- height (the height is required for the Zenniz to calculate your shots)
This is easy for anybody to do before starting a tennis session in just a minute or two.
We started our session with the 50-shot groundstroke drill. In this practice, the goal is to hit 50 groundstrokes in total. This practice is ideal for a warmup because you can also complete it from service box rallying so you don’t have to go straight to backcourt. You can also easily perform multiple 50-shot drills in sequence since a new drill starts automatically.
After the warmup, we tried one of Zenniz’s most popular practice drills which is the 1-minute challenge. In this challenge, you have 1 minute to rally with your opponent and hit as many shots as possible.
On our first try, we managed to perform 26 shots which left room for improvement. My opponent noticed that this drill gives you positive pressure to perform well since you have a short time limit. After the first try, we tried the 1-minute challenge again and we managed to improve our high score to 31 shots. On our second try, there was still some pressure funny enough so the score could have been higher.
We found the 1-minute challenge fun since the time limit gives you some pressure and the high score setup makes you want to try the challenge again. After the 1-minute challenge, we went back to the 50-shot drills since it was easy to navigate through the different drills. This time we performed two 50-shot drills, one for backhand crosses and one for forehand crosses.
After the drills, it was insightful to see the statistics of our shots.
Speaking of the data gathered, Zenniz gathers data from your shots including:
Statistics
- Shots in percentage (including total shots, forehand, and backhand shots)
- Total errors
- Net Clearance (in meters, forehand and backhand clearance)
- Groundstroke speed, depth, and fastest shot (including separate forehand and backhand statistics)
Shot Placements
- All shots (also separate forehand and backhand shots)
- Overview of the shots
- Depth of the shots
- Areas of the shots
- Stroke areas
Video footage from the session
- Video from the session from the baseline cameras.
After the groundstroke drills, it was time to test the serving practices.
In Zenniz there are two different serving practices: The free serve practice and serve to target practice.
- In the free serve practice, you can serve freely. Zenniz smart net post shows the serving speed and if the serve was in or not.
- In serve to target practice, the smart net post shows you a target where you should aim your serve. When you hit the target area you get points depending on your serve’s speed and the difficulty of the target area. The target area gets smaller with every successful hit.
At the end of our session, we played a short practice match by using Zenniz’s “Practice Match” mode. In this mode, you can start a match with just a few touchscreen taps.
At first, we were confused because the screen said that the match begins after a 5-minute warmup period. Since we had already done the warmup earlier we rallied for 5 minutes and waited for the match to begin. Nothing happened after the 5 minutes and we realized that you have to start the match yourself by serving.
Here we would’ve preferred a notification from the Zenniz net post’s side screen at the end of the warmup period. Because there was none, we had to check the time by ourselves.
While playing, we weren’t always sure if the ball was in or out. Thanks to Zenniz, we were able to walk to the net post to verify the situation.
We agreed that the line-calling feature improved the game since the tight line calls weren’t made by us and thus wouldn’t lead to an argument.
Besides the practice matches, there is also an option to play official matches via Zenniz smart net post. For example, in Finland, you can choose an official match format that already has a preset of the match rules set by the Finnish Tennis Association.
Review With The Advanced Opponent
Pros
Cons
Playtest With the Intermediate Opponent
For this playtest I booked a court for one hour since my opponent was familiar with Zenniz. We used the first half of our reservation with the 50-shot practice drill.
Because of our skill differences, the drill didn’t play out too well because there were many stray balls and the rallying wasn’t consistent. After trying out the 50-shot practice we decided to test the serve to target practice which last time turned out to be a really fun way to practice serving.
We were supposed to play just one round of serve to target practice but my opponent got excited about the drill so we ended up playing the drill for the last 30 minutes of our court reservation. We found the drill engaging since it provided a gradual challenge with the ever-shrinking target areas. The drill also restarted automatically after every 10 serves, making it easy to play through multiple times.
Review With The Intermediate Opponent
Pros
Cons
Final Thoughts
Zenniz is a modern and versatile electronic tennis line-calling system. It offers various functions which can benefit players, coaches, umpires, and tournament organizers.
The main key function that distinguishes Zenniz from other electronic line calling systems is the real time performance feedback system. The Zenniz’s net post provides players with real time performance feedback through two large LED panels which is a feature that no other tennis line calling systems have.
As a player or coach, Zenniz offers you engaging drills and interesting data about your gameplay. With the data from the drills, you can track your progress and compare it to other players.
As an umpire, Zenniz offers you a tool to keep track of the match’s score and broadcast it to the crowd via the Zenniz smart net post.
As a tournament organizer, Zenniz offers you software that helps you to host tournaments.
In summary, Zenniz offers a comprehensive electronic line-calling system that brings value to every aspect of tennis, from practice sessions to competitive matches.
FAQ
Is Zenniz free to use for players?
— Yes at the moment all of Zenniz’s player app features are free.
How can the players use Zenniz?
— The players need to show their unique QR code before play which is generated by the Zenniz app. The whole login process takes just under one minute.
How can I export the video from the Zenniz app?
— Zenniz has a built-in feature that allows you to export your training sessions and matches.
Can Zenniz be installed in outdoor courts?
— Currently, Zenniz can only be used in inside courts but the outdoor version is in development and will be launched in 2024.
Does Zenniz work on all court surfaces?
— Yes, Zenniz is designed to work on all court surfaces including natural grass courts.
Is Zenniz durable?
— Zenniz is built from aluminum steel and plexiglass so it can easily withstand impacts from stray balls and fast serves.
