Slinger, the manufacturer of a tennis bag/launcher used for training, recently announced that it would begin the process of acquiring the sports tech/video analytics company, Playsight. While the two companies are both centered around the sport of tennis, it could be difficult to see why Slinger would approach Playsight for acquisition considering it is mainly focused on tennis launcher hardware and does not appear to have any current software solutions while Playsight only focuses on software. Playsight is known for its tennis “smart court” technology that senses the movement of the ball on the court using cameras and turns this data into insight for players and coaches. However, while not yet commercialized, two of its most recently granted patents give some insight into where the two companies could collaborate.

The two patents both relate to using cameras to revolutionize the way tennis players practice when they don’t have access to a coach. The cameras track the movements of the players and based on those movements, a tennis ball launcher (i.e. a Slinger) alters how it launches the ball to help the player train more effectively to their goals. While no product has been announced yet, the patents show why this is a match made in heaven. Be on the lookout for a new product to be released by Slinger implementing this technology!

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