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Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

Every episode is titled,

It Starts with Tennis and Goes From There.

We talk with coaches, club managers,

industry business professionals,

technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.

We wanna have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

powered by GoTennis.

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to share on the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

And with that, let's get into our recent conversation

with Alex from Tennis Esports,

a virtual reality software.

Alex is offering free keys to our listeners

if you wanna try it out.

Have a listen and let us know what you think.

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Alex, good to see you again, good to hear you again,

and we are excited to hear about Tennis Esports.

You were one of the first we talked to in the VR world,

and it's now been maybe a year, a little over a year.

I didn't do my own due diligence on our own last conversation,

but what has happened in a year?

What do you guys have done a lot?

So catch us up and let us know what's been going on.

- Yeah, thanks so much, really happy to be here again.

And it's awesome to give you an update this update again,

because a lot has happened this year.

It's surprising that even talking Apple

hadn't released a lot since last year there,

VR headsets, it's also surprising

that we're not doing this podcast in VR as well.

So next year, we should do that.

- That sounds like fun.

- The video bit of a mix, but no.

So since we last spoke, we probably didn't even launch

onto the story yet.

So just like a virtual tennis application

or virtual applications, just like your mobile,

you download it on your Oculus Store or your app store.

So we launched in June last year,

and since then we have probably grown

around 50% months or months for since then.

So it's been growing quite well.

We have had our first kind of competition

in an Olympic space.

So we went to Mongolia recently,

where we just hosted the East Asian Youth Olympic Games.

And we had teams actually competing

for a gold silver and bronze medal

with an Olympic sanction.

So that was very, very cool.

- An Olympic sanction, what does that actually mean?

- Correct.

So I, because we're such a small startup,

and not very many people know about VR tennis and its rules,

I was the technical official umpire for this tournament.

And these rules were kind of drafted by our organization

and then drafted by a few officials

that we can need Olympic committee.

And also sanctioned by that.

So that's why they achieved the gold medal status

for virtual reality tennis.

- A world first. - Very cool.

- Yeah, so we had people like cheering

and saying, come on,

what their headsets are,

and it was kind of, it was well.

It was an interesting experience, but it's cool.

- Nice.

- Yeah, so that was one really big achievement.

And we aren't really getting better.

So yeah, we've also released,

we were talking about before, the tech zone,

which is probably more relevant to your podcast.

And basically, Tennessee Sports and the nutshell

is able to help you improve your technique

or learn modern technique in virtual reality.

So in real time, based upon AI, coaching rules and data,

analysis.

So if I do a forehand,

I can see it tracked by track every single frame,

what I should be doing, where I should be.

And at the same time, I can also hit my normal forehand

and get feedback automated by AI and simple coaching rules

as well.

So that will be a work in progress

as the machine learns.

And we get more people using it.

But at the moment, it is a revolutionary product

and we hope it can grow tennis.

And I think maybe take the stage,

maybe take two steps back and explain what VR

tennis is all about.

Maybe some new listeners.

Yeah, if somebody has no idea what we're talking about.

Correct.

Agreed, baby.

Yeah, maybe just take 10 steps back.

Hang on.

Yeah.

VR, Tennessee Sports is a virtual reality tennis application.

And we have kind of two goals.

I'm an expert professional tennis player

about 300 in the world.

And I joined because I believe in these two things.

So one is kind of growing tennis participation.

It's the most realistic experience I've had that's not on tennis.

So we simulate everything from ball spins to speeds,

everything from competition, everything except for the impact.

So if I had a slicer to you over in Atlanta,

you will receive my slicer.

And it will skip through the court

at the appropriate sea level sea temperature every month.

So this is one aspect.

And the other aspect as I was talking about before is

we are merging this world with eSports.

So I can play matches online and meet you

on a real virtual court and compete

with real tennis points with automated scoring

and empires and a virtual spectator,

which hopefully will be real spectator soon.

And we are building out eSports within that.

So competitive virtual tennis.

All right, so Bobby, I can see what's going on up there.

Well, I was just picturing right away

when they were doing the Olympics.

Now, I know the players have to wear the goggles.

And I'm assuming if you want to watch the match,

you have to wear goggles as well.

No, that's a great question, not at all.

So it actually projects onto 2D platforms.

So we could watch it on our PC or on our mobile.

We also had commentators for this

and we do typically have commentators for our matches.

So it's just like any normal match

except you're commentating on a screen.

So you can't actually be there.

First, you can watch it on VR too as well.

So you can talk during the match and they can't hear you?

Yeah, you can talk as a spectator and they can't hear you.

We're working on kind of sending you a little emoji

or something like that to say, hey, good job.

And you'll see it in your kind of AR proof through.

But that's the next step.

But yeah, we can talk just like this in our matches as well.

So I won't need to shout across the port

or pick up any balls for that matter.

I'll be automatically tell boarder to the next point.

So that's not a cool.

So what would you say, since we spoke last,

the percentage of--

and I don't even know how you measure it.

How do we measure improvement in the technology

from last year at this time?

Yeah, I'm not sure to give a number.

However, I know that we're working with the technology

as best as we can.

And we're right at the forefront of it.

So every kind of new update, we partner with Netto.

So they kind of find us to be part of this.

Mark Zuckerberg loves tennis, which is great.

And so I would say that we're probably--

from when I started two years ago, we're double that.

So let's just say 50% growth rate

is pretty good.

So we're definitely really, really close

to make it a really smooth experience.

That simulates real life, yeah.

So to the point where, for example, one of the coolest

features that I really enjoy is that you don't have

to tell something about the ball.

So it makes it really easy and accessible for new players

to join when they're learning--

trust learning-- to hit a serve, for example.

The ball is actually floating perfectly in the air form.

And they can choose and pick and choose where it is.

So just to get used to that actual impact

of hitting above your head, it really, really helps

onboard new players as well.

And hopefully bring them onto the real board as well,

which is nothing that I want to--

or we want to discriminate it all.

In that case, what you've got is--

it's almost a large range of saying, OK,

we've got it so simplified for the gamer that may not

have actually ever held a real tennis ball in their hand.

But also, you're going to help me as my recreational players

are going to potentially use your system

to help develop their strokes, at least the swing pattern,

as you say, the impact isn't there.

And that's true on any VR system.

But then you also have--

you're able to teach a lesson as well.

You do that point.

I know I watched something recently where you can stand near me

and watch me play tennis and maybe coach me.

Is that part of the ability as well?

That's in the pipeline.

I think you've nailed it where we're kind of hoping the gamer,

hoping the everyday person bringing tennis

to where you can never typically play.

And this is the crux of it, right?

So now we can play tennis in a classroom, for example,

and introduce tennis to all of the class who may not necessarily

want to go play gym or want to even just jump on a court

because they're playing cattle instead or pickable instead.

Now this is the way for tennis to actually grow

and innovate in a modern fashion.

So bringing it to where you can't necessarily play is awesome.

Second, for the stroke improvements,

I think we've only released that for the forehand.

What is coming up and telling is definitely

the backhand side.

And that will come again for the serve.

So tennis is not quite natural, as you know,

all the time for everyone.

And so picking up those skills almost immediately

off the first bat really helps coaches and also helps

players have those little tips and techniques

as well to improve.

To bring in the actual physical coaching

and us being on a court for you to talk, this is possible.

However, I would say it's manual right now.

So it's funky.

So we could meet on a court, but it wouldn't be a direct,

perfect simulation of a court.

You're not going to have a basketball

so that you're going to be able to see your player.

But that's definitely the pipeline for coaches

and coaching tool for sure to do that.

And Bobby, I'm going to ask exactly what you're thinking,

which if I teach the forehand a little bit differently

from how Bobby teaches the forehand,

and then we have somebody that comes in and says,

well, sure, but Alex in VR told me I need to do it.

This way, every coach has that question.

You're not trying to replace the coaches.

You're hoping to be supplemental in a way.

Exactly right.

Yeah.

So we've left the parameters and they're

tested by a lot of tennis coaches in general.

And we've left them quite wide open.

So what we're trying to do is teach a modern,

steeply, steeply forehand, have any group you like.

If you don't agree with that, please just

give me an email and let us know.

But it'd be very, very happy to take some feedback on that.

But we really, really thought about it

and just wanted to onboard people into tennis as best

as possible.

That's the goal with this one.

And it is such a revolutionary tool

that we wouldn't want to discriminate tennis at any point.

So I don't think it's a hindrance at all.

It's more of a fast track you into playing better

and having fun straight away with tennis.

Yeah.

All right, Bobby.

I'd say I'm caught up.

I'm sure there are 1,000 more things we can ask, right?

Well, that's the thing I'm just curious about fitness component.

Does it mean that I know my ladies turn their Apple watch

on as soon as they walk on the court.

But can you track stuff?

Because I see this is a great fitness aid as well.

100% I'm so glad you asked because I personally

can figure out all the trainings that are inside the game.

We've got over 30 modules.

And one of the five modules that are called cardio is meant to.

And they really do--

they get to square up the actual device, the meta VR headset,

tracks a calorie burn.

And this really gets your heart rate up there to the point

where some of my colleagues have not been

as a complete--

complete some of the trainings.

But yeah, it's a cool workout.

And then that's also in the pipeline too, to get people

moving for sure in a tennis fashion.

Hopefully adding some music in there as well to get a bit upbeat.

And then yeah, finally, I'll probably just

add the last thing that comes to mind

is you can configure your own trainings.

So we've released a feature recently called the Playground.

We released a poll of even the naming for it on LinkedIn.

So if you want to find us there.

But essentially, what you can do is kind of select your template,

select what stroke you want to hit,

and kind of select what time you see what it go for.

And basically, you're basically trying to find us

as well.

So that cardio tennis is definitely right there.

And hopefully, progress as well.

Good to be back.

The Playground.

That's fantastic.

I like that a lot.

All right, Alex, what do you have for our audience?

You mentioned before you guys got a key or two.

We can hand out.

And then how do we get in touch with you?

Give us the LinkedIn, the Instagrams, the facebags,

all your handles.

Give us everything.

That's it.

Yeah, so we are giving away an exclusive free case

to your listeners.

So basically, what you need to do is email me at Alex@VR-motion-learning.com.

I'm sure Sean will add it to the show notes as well.

But yes, just shoot me an email.

And we will definitely help you with that.

And we're really, really open to your feedback.

So find us on LinkedIn.

You'll see a sports tech and tennis e-sports group

with over--

I think around 20,000 people now.

We share all our updates there quite frequently.

You can join our Discord as well, Tennis eSports Server,

where we communicate to find matches and organize

our tournaments and weekly prizes for in-game players.

And finally, you can find--

on two websites, one is tennis-esports.com.

Just to find out more about the game.

And second, you can find the IVTF, the International Virtual

Tennis Federation.org, where all of our hopefully Olympic

and really official tournaments will be taking place as well.

I love that there are official things happening.

This is the official virtual reality tournament or whatever.

And the fact that the Olympic Committee has gotten involved

and give you a chance.

I know one of the things we're going to talk about coming up

in the next few months, we have our last Atlanta open coming.

And we're going to see if we can put together.

We haven't fit all the pieces together yet.

But see if we can put together a virtual version of that.

And I know Bobby doesn't actually compete in a lot of tennis.

But I'm thinking, he and I are going to go at it.

What do you think, Bobby?

The only thing I see missing in this,

you know, make my life complete is the crypto component

that you get prizes if you achieve certain levels.

Then all my drugs are satisfied.

I'm exercising, I'm playing tennis, and I'm getting rewarded.

I mean, I'm a happy addict right now.

I want to sound good.

I hate to request that.

So I'm noting the world down, noting the world down the world.

I give rewards for walking.

I want to reward for hitting my forehand.

That's all.

That's great.

Your problems.

There we go.

Thank you.

Exactly.

Alex, thank you so much.

We need to do this.

We'll find a schedule.

Once a year, whatever it is, anytime you've got an update,

find us.

And we will tell everybody.

But as Alex said, we'll put everything in the show notes

in the description, whether you're

wherever you're watching, listening, whatever you're doing.

We should have a link somewhere to get you in touch with her.

Get a free key.

And we will put out the email address

and make sure everybody knows.

Alex, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

We'll see you again next time.

Thank you so much, guys.

Take care.

Thank you.

Well, there you have it.

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See you next time.

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