Playing tennis has always meant overcoming obstacles like high costs and steep learning curves. A Connecticut startup is looking to eliminate those challenges by making it easier, faster, less expensive, and more fun to learn, practice, and play tennis — especially at home.
Like basketball backboards in the driveway or golf simulators in the garage, an on-trend tennis technology that lets players work on their technique and fitness with real balls is a natural progression for the sport.
“The practice at home concept has been proven in nearly every other sport, so it’s time we brought it to tennis,” says John Davey, CEO & Founder of Fast Track Tennis. “People who practice their activities at home will generally improve at a much faster rate.”
Fast Track’s patented system is the world’s first portable tennis simulator that sets up in any small space like a driveway, garage, or basement for real ball hitting — no court, partner, or pickup required. Designed for players of all levels, the hit/capture/return device creates an infinite loop by using a small, gravity-fed machine that tosses 20 balls per minute and a portable 7’x7’ net that catches and recycles even the hardest hits.
“Tennis is a technical sport with an emphasis on technique, and it takes about 1,000 repetitions for something to become ingrained as muscle memory,” says Davey. “With Fast Track Tennis, you can get … up to 1,200 reps per hour, which makes it the fastest way to work on technique and create repeatable strokes.”
To make sure players are practicing the right way, a free smartphone app uses computer vision to track ball speed, spin rate, and landing position, so players can see their results in real time and track their progress. The app includes skill challenges, fitness timers, coaching videos, and more. Included with purchase of a Fast Track system are a dozen specially marked balls, three Velcro net targets, and a tripod with smartphone clip.
Since launching in late 2021, the company has created a new niche — low-cost practice that can be done anytime, anywhere. With customers in all 50 states and dozens of countries, Davey says Fast Track is becoming a de facto training tool for tennis players everywhere, including hundreds of high school and college tennis teams who set up the devices in their gyms.
“People don’t like to do things that they aren’t good at, so our mission is to accelerate learning and practicing, and if we do our job right, more people will start playing tennis and probably keep playing for the rest of their lives,” says Davey.
By making it more efficient for people to practice and improve, it follows that the game will continue to grow and the entire industry will share in the rewards. Doug Chandler of tennis retailer, Racketman, in Des Peres, Missouri, has been selling Fast Track Tennis since its debut. “We have one set up in the store for people to try and we sell hundreds of them,” he says.
