COMPARING TENNIS CONNECTING APPS AND SITES
Which one is right for you?
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By Rich Neher
CONTEXT: I've been watching many tennis apps on the market for quite some time. We have also reported about some in the past. Many come up with a lot of hype and promises but can they actually deliver? It was decided to make it a 3-part series comparing apps. In the past, we were looking at Tennis Club Management Apps promising to run many or most of the functions in your club. Then we examined Coaching Apps and Sites and this month we'll look at apps that mainly Connect Players.
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The industry is notorious for hiding who's behind an app. Probably because most of those are made by part-time amateurs that have full-time jobs. You have to do a lot of detective work to find the owners, managers, or offices. In our opinion, you should stay away from those apps hiding their contact information.
Unfortunately, only 2 of the 11 apps we contacted decided to cooperate and answer our questions. The apps that did not cooperate were Break the Love, Play Your Court, Tennis Pal, Racket Pal, Tennis Partners, Got Courts, Tennis League Network, Play Tennis app, and Playo. Many of them have no problem filling your inbox with spammy messages, but do not see it necessary to answer a simple request.
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Note: We added another app, iPlayMe2 Tennis at the end because we failed to feature it under Club Management Apps in September.
The industry is notorious for hiding who's behind an app. Probably because most of those are made by part-time amateurs that have full-time jobs. You have to do a lot of detective work to find the owners, managers, or offices. In our opinion, you should stay away from those apps hiding their contact information.
Trying to set up the criteria for comparing 'Connecting Apps' we were trying to figure out what's really important for our readers. From a long list of possible criteria, we narrowed it down to 4.
1. Who are the main users of the app?
2. What's the most important difference to their competitors
3. What's the price plan?
Spin Tennis App
"Find tennis partners & leagues in London" (very soon also in the United States)
"Find players at your skill level nearby. Beginner, intermediate or advanced we’ll match you with the right partners."
"Arrange games quickly and easily and meet new people. Plus track your scores and see how you rank!"
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Spin CEO Ganesh Rao told us they have over 10,000 players using the app in London and will be expanding to other cities in the US later this year and in 2023.
1. Who are your main users?
Spin is a consumer app for people who want to play tennis at their local public courts - like a tennis club in your pocket allowing you to play tennis and meet new people easily. The app combines a simple way to find tennis partners of the same level (free) with friendly tennis leagues (paid) making it easy for anyone to play at their local courts all year round.
2. What is the most important difference between Spin Tennis App and the competition?
Playing on Spin is fun! Unlike something like UTR which tends to be more serious and for higher-level players, Spin is open to all players including beginners where the emphasis is on just getting out on the court and having fun. We also match player skill levels accurately with our own internal algorithms but it's more about being part of a tennis community at your local courts where you can go out and get a friendly game anytime.
4. What is the price plan if our readers are interested? Bear in mind, over 70% of our readers are tennis pros, club owners, and managers.
Public tennis court operators can use Spin to drive participation and increase court utilization, whilst tennis coaches that promote Spin can give their clients an easy way to practice what they have been taught with other players. There is no charge to use Spin and we can even pay you a commission for promoting Spin at your venues - we are looking for launch partners in the US so please get in touch if you are interested.
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Contact: Ganesh Rao
London, England
email hello@spintennisapp.com
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tenniscall.com
"Play tennis with friends or new people.
Manage groups, leagues & tournaments.
Share results, photos & more.
It's 100% FREE!"
Tenniscall started in 2017. According to their website, they now have over 31,000 players in 1701 cities and 116 countries. Next, they are planning to develop services for B2B users (booking platform, payment system, reporting, etc.), empower clubs with a limited budget, and let them benefit from the use of an easy-to-use SaaS/app at a fair price.
1. Who are your main users? What demographic?
Mostly male players, they represent about 65% of the total, any age group, from 14yo up to 70/75yo). Tenniscall is mostly used in some regions/countries: the Middle East (UAE, Qatar), Europe (Italy), South America (Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina), and North America (USA, Canada).
2. What is the most important difference between your app and the competition?
Simplicity. Tenniscall app keeps things as simple as possible. Tenniscall offers core functions and make them easily accessible (chat with nearby players, send a challenge request, create groups, manage leagues & tournaments).
The main point is that Tenniscall is a hybrid solution (social tennis + court booking platform), so users can make online reservations in nearby clubs which joined the platform (book a tennis court, cancel a reservation, amend a reservation, add a player to a reservation, etc.).
3. What is your price plan? How do you charge?
As seen in the previous point, Tenniscall is a hybrid app:
- it’s free to use for players, always.
- our SaaS venue management software is offered to clubs either for free (STARTER plan) or for a small monthly fee (PRO plan, USD 5,00/mo/court).
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Contact: Elisabetta Rossellini
Dubai, Dubai
email info@tenniscall.com
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iPlayMe2
"Maximize your tennis life."
"A real-world tennis app that handles real-life scenarios."
"Set up the ideal tennis match. No matter what your level. When, where, and with whomever you want – even with those still unmet. No more phone tag, endless texting, or WhatsApp strings. Just Click & Swipe, Serve & Volley!"
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Send a “Get-A-Game” private invitation to a few, or an 'Open Challenge' (at your level) to many. Decide how to process accepted invitations: 'First Come First Served,' or 'Let Me Choose.' It’s your invitation. And make it easy for others to find you, when and how you can play, wherever you are. Even at the last minute.
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iPlayMe2 CEO and Co-founder Paul Stratta is based in New York and in Brussels, Belgium. He made the app attractive for clubs and for players. He says, "We are experiencing "near zero churn", meaning practically none of the clubs who started with iPlayMe2 in this year 2022, have stopped using it since starting. The exact opposite is true: with each month, they are using it more extensively, more widely at their clubs, and driving better experiences for their players, teaching pros, and club itself."
1. Can you share how many clubs have your app installed?
At this moment (8/18/22), there are 93 clubs worldwide using iPlayMe2 to drive internal competitions at their clubs, namely tournaments, in-house leagues, round-robins, ladders, and Compass Draw. Many of them are also using iPlayMe2 for their Platform Tennis, Padel, or Pickleball competitions. But the majority started with their tennis-oriented activities, as that was our original start as well here at iPlayMe2.
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2. What is the most important difference between iPlayMe2 and the competition
The biggest, most unique difference between iPlayMe2, and the competition, such as Foundation Tennis, which we believe isn't really a direct competitor, is that with our player app, clubs and teaching pros drive their competitive programs through the app, but via a simple browser admin tool. Players can self-schedule their competition matches via the free player app iPlayMe2 Tennis, and can enter their own match scores. Some clubs prefer to do everything themselves, but that's up to the club, not the players. Either way, brackets and league standings get automated updated, next opponent notifications get sent, and score reports are shared. The app is additionally VERY useful for the players to manage their own play / practice / matches with their friends, so iPlayMe2 is both a tool for the player himself / herself, as well as for the club pro, tournament director, or club GM in managing more efficiently, and elegantly, his or her business, or club's business.
3. What is the price plan if our readers are interested? Bear in mind, over 70% of our readers are tennis pros, club owners, managers.
The player app is always free from the App Stores. Pricing for the club half of the software solution is both flexible, and / or à la carte. We know that every club is different, due to membership-size, seasonality, court numbers, etc., so a club can choose to "consume" competition by competition, à la carte (e.g. a discounted $32 for an unlimited, no player-quantity-limit Singles ladder), or purchase an "all-in" monthly or annual membership, which gives the club unlimited or near unlimited use of running competitions, activities, tournaments, event registrations, payment processing, depending on package ($99, $199, $299 for discounted packages, or $499 / month for the truly unlimited "all you can eat" package). Many of the iPlayMe2 services are still free regardless of package, namely event registrations, game scheduling, match-making, member-player stats, home club page, etc.
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Contact:
+44 20 7193 9165
+1 347 767 6764