Chennai Plots its moves in advance

In the inaugural season, Chennaiyin FC was the late starter. This season it has been quickly off the blocks. In an attempt to build on the semifinal finish last year, it signed goalkeeper Edel Bete and striker Fikru Teferra from Champions Atletico de Kolkata, well before the auction. Fikru’s signing is significant especially because the club was unable to retain the services of Colombian forward John Stiven Mendoza, who was highly impressive last year.

While retaining the likes of Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Balwant Singh, who formed the dependable Indian core of the side, it was surprising to see Chennaiyin let go of Denson Devadas who played in almost all the matches. So it was imperative for the side to find a replacement and it did so in the form of Bengaluru FC midfielder Thoi Singh and its first local talent Dhanpal Ganesh.

Thoi Singh, a tough tackling midfielder, might also supplement the side in a different way. Last season, manager Marco Materazzi, tried to play Eric Djemba-Djemba in front of the defence to break up play. But the Nigerian’s failure forced him to bring himself on. Singh’s signing has the potential to address that lacuna. Dhanpal, the Pune FC midfielder, has also been making a name for himself and recently earned a call up to the national side too.

At the back though, the side might be short-changed. Last year it had the likes of Mikael Silvestre, Bernard Mendy and later in the season Alessandro Nesta. But of these only Mendy has so far been retained. Silvestre was a constant presence and Nesta’s organisational skills were all too visible. Replacements for them are yet to be identified even as the club has signed Justin Stephen, the Mumbai FC defensive mainstay.

Its frontline however looks fiery. Brazilian Elano Blumer was by far the most impressive of the marquee players and his retention is the biggest boost for the club. In Fikru and Bruno Pelissari, it has an attack that can take on the best of defences.

With a few defensive re-inforcements, the side can emerge stronger than last season.

Key players missing from last season: John Stiven Mendoza, Mikael Silvestre, Alessandro Nesta, Denson Devadas.

New players needed: Of major concern will be to find good enough players at the centre of the defence. Silvestre, in spite of his age, took on the burden of an anchor last season. Then Nesta’s presence gave the side the much needed direction. With both not among the retainees, Chennaiyin has to plug this hole.

Pre-season: The club practically did not have a pre-season last year. Now, ahead of the second season, Materazzi is planning to take the side to Italy for three weeks.

http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss3831/stories/20150801508005600.htm

Better to embrace the here and now!

Romanticising the past is as old a human trait as human civilization itself. It was way better back then, more glorious, a lot purer and innocent is a refrain that is hard to miss in those taken over by nostalgia. It’s no different in sport. Perhaps, this kind of sentimental revision and craving for the yesteryear is best seen through sport. And in modern day tennis lies its best example.

“Real sports fans” would root for Roger Federer felt London’s Daily Mail on the morning of the Federer-Novak Djokovic Wimbledon singles final. “Federer is supposed to have been overtaken by the gym rats and the musclemen, the men who awe us with their stamina and their shot-making. No one means it as a sign of disrespect to Djokovic but most people who love sport will be hoping Federer makes it a record eight,” it said.

At once it seems like a simplistic argument which trashes in one stroke the Djokovic-phenomenon and the supernatural levels to which it has elevated tennis in recent years. But not for the purist, who is tired of the monotonously long baseline slugfests that supposedly dominate tennis today.

It is no coincidence that such arguments fill the air during the Wimbledon fortnight. For, no other place has kept its links intact to the game’s origins as much as SW19. And it is a given that every perceptible shift in the game will be viewed through the Wimbledon prism.

In 2001, Federer beat the serve-and-volley of Pete Sampras and went on to lose to the serve-and-volley of Tim Henman, who went on to lose to the serve-and-volley of Goran Ivanisevic, who went on to beat the serve-and-volley of Pat Rafter, to win the title. In the 2002 final between Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian there was not a single serve-and-volley point.

It was also at this edition that the mix of the grass was changed from a quick 70% rye / 30% creeping red fescue, to a slower 100% perennial ryegrass and a larger tennis ball, called the Type 3, which travelled more slowly through the air, was developed. Federer in fact served and volleyed 80.8 per cent of the times in 2002. In the 2015 edition it was a little over 10 per cent.

The above two instances do serve up as evidence to buttress the fact that tennis has changed beyond recognition — from the time Federer won his first Wimbledon in 2003 till now, from the time Serena Williams won her first ‘Serena Slam’ in 2002-03 till now. But is it to the detriment of the game as it is being projected? Shorn of variety, yes. But of excitement, not really.

Tennis as a game didn’t exactly start off as being predominantly serve-and-volley. Fred Perry and Don Budge, the 1930s greats, were known for their ‘backhands and forehands that never went off’. Both seldom followed their serve to the net. Perry came in to the net only for the assured kill. In fact Perry’s groundstrokes were such that he never had to volley competently.

“In any match between the perfect baseline player and the perfect net-rusher, I would take the baseliner every time,” said ‘Big Bill’ Tilden many years ago. “The future will see a growth of hard-court play the world over,” said Bill Tilden, in his book The Art of Lawn Tennis. “Grass must fight to hold its position.” Note that in the 1920s Tilden was considered an ‘artist’ and was overwhelmingly voted the greatest tennis player of the first half of the 20th century in an Associated Press poll.

The Kramer theory of modern tennis in the 1940s and 1950s was what completely changed the game’s complexion. His style of play came to be known as ‘The Big Game’ — a cannonball serve followed by a decisive volley. There were many attacking players before Kramer, but none who consistently came in behind every serve.

Then followed the decades-long domination from the likes of Tony Roche, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras. (Note: Rod Laver was never an out-and-out serve-and-volleyer).

It is this era that a certain generation of fans yearns for, calling it aesthetically pleasing. But aesthetic sense is subjective. Why serve and volley was lapped up then was because it was a winning tactic. The courts were fast and racquet technology was yet to see advancement. “The game we play — I play, the Australians play — is to pressure an opponent,” said Newcombe. “Serve and volley works best — so we use it. But it’s just a means to an end. We could change.”

In the eyes of the current generation, the change, in the early 2000s is like a course correction. Because in the 1994 Wimbledon final between Sampras and Ivanisevic only three of the 206 points lasted more than four shots. In fact matches between the two were described as three hours of serve and ten minutes of tennis.

“Aces were once that single unanswerable assertion of dominance or defiance, and were remarkable for the surprise and thrill of their appearance,” wrote Paul Fein in his book Tennis Confidential. “These days, if they were a golf stroke, they’d be a tap-in.”

The changes in the last decade and a half have made it a baseliner’s game again. For example, those with big serves, but devoid of a return game don’t win much anymore. Djokovic, who once had the dubious record of having served more double-faults than aces in a single season, hit 13 aces to Federer’s 14 in that Sunday’s final. Most of it was clutch serving, like he saved two set points at 5-6 in the first set with back-to-back service winners.

What this suggests is that tennis, like everything else, has evolved and will continue to. It has always marched with the times. Training methods are better and nutrition has improved. There is a greater scientific understanding and the resulting improvement in performance and technique is as good as inevitable. The differences in games are not as stark as they were before but very subtle. The ultimate goal is to become an all-court expert.

True it might not have the variety of say a Borg-McEnroe clash or that of a Sampras-Agassi or even a Federer-Nadal. That may be due to homogenising of the courts but it is also because perfection has become so commonplace. The idea of a glorious past is fine, but only a cynic will refuse to see the greatness around him.

http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss3830/stories/20150725501900400.htm

Chennaiyin welcomes its first ‘home’ player

In the first year, Chennaiyin FC left no stone unturned to appeal to the local community. The customary vanakkam , the club’s name, its logo et al can be seen as attempts to do precisely this. But, the most important thing was missing — a player from the home State of Tamil Nadu.

On Friday, at the ISL player auction/draft, that prayer was finally answered. Dhanpal Ganesh, a 21-year-old from the city, who plays as a central midfielder for Pune FC in the I-league, was picked by the franchise for Rs. 9 lakh.

“It was unexpected,” Ganesh told The Hindu . “I knew I would be picked by some club. But this was not expected. It gives me an opportunity to play in front of my parents, which I have never done. I am very happy.”

Ganesh did his schooling (till eighth standard) in Vyasarpadi, after which he spent four years at the Neyveli Sports Hostel (2004-2007). This was where his footballing journey started.

“Former India international Raman Vijayan came to the hostel and spoke about his journey in football. He was sort of a role model. He had left a secure government job and gone to play at the higher levels. So, I too decided to do that and didn’t consider playing in the Chennai senior division. I went for the trials in Pune and got selected.”

It was a risky move. He came from a humble family. His father used to whitewash houses and his mother was a homemaker. “It was a risk. My parents were against it. My father used to struggle to even buy me boots. I had to leave my studies too. But, I wanted to play for India.”

He finally realised his dream of turning out in national colours when he came on as a substitute in the preliminary round World Cup qualifier against Nepal in March.

Back in 2011, Ganesh was the first player to graduate from the Pune FC academy to the first team. “Manager Ashok Kumar helped me a lot. He was the one who promoted me. I owe him a lot today. I learnt my football skills there and got my first taste of professional football. All the coaches and owners treat me like their son.”

The ISL, though, will be a different ball-game. “I have watched players like Marco Materazzi only on TV. It will be great to play alongside them. But, I need to practise a lot. There is a huge difference between the level we are at and the level at which they play.”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/chennaiyin-welcomes-its-first-home-player/article7409527.ece

'The team has settled down'

In the past five years India’s journey in the Davis Cup has been topsy-turvy. From the heights of being in the first round of the World Group in 2010 and 2011, the subsequent two years were spent languishing in the regional Asia-Oceania Group I competition. The danger of slipping to Group II and thus into tennis oblivion was there but was warded off. A players’ rebellion against the All India Tennis Association ensued too.

However, in the time since then, much has eased. There is a certain camaraderie in the Davis Cup team that’s hard to miss. The bunch helmed by captain Anand Amritraj and coached by Zeeshan Ali is more of a family, sure about its abilities with each player standing up for the other in times of need. Last September, it punched above its weight and was just a match away from qualifying for the World Group again but lost to Serbia 3-2.

Ten months on, it is up against New Zealand. A win will give it another chance to qualify for the World Group in September. Ahead of the tie, which he termed ‘winnable’, captain Amritraj shared his thoughts with the Sportstar on his time so far.

Excerpts:

Question: What were the goals you set yourself when you took over in September 2013?

Answer: It has pretty much been the same — to get us into the World Group. Last time we were one match away, losing to Serbia 3-2. It was a lot closer than anybody thought we could come. It was a shame that we couldn’t pull it off. So that is still the goal.

What are the improvements that you have seen in these past two years?

Somdev (Devvaraman) has performed as well as he could. He was unbelievable against Korea when we won 4-1. Then against Chinese Taipei. He had an amazing third day against Serbia. Yuki has played well in the past six months. People were tough on him initially. But he had an injury lay-off. Against Serbia his fitness was not 100 per cent. But he has come a long way since then. I am expecting him to be really good this year.

So was it a gamble to play him against Serbia?

It was. But I chose him because it’s hard to replace somebody who is ranked 150 or so. If he had been 300, yes, I would have replaced him. But it was hard to toss him out. Also Saketh Myneni wasn’t in the four. Rohan Bopanna, if chosen, would have given his best shot. But he had not played singles in four years and in best of five matches it is extremely difficult.

What are your views on the talent pool in India?

If you get away from the 28-year-olds and 30-year-olds we have Yuki and Ramkumar. Then come Sumit Nagal, who I have never watched, and Sasi Kumar Mukund. These guys have a long way to go. It’s always tough to jump from juniors to seniors. Unless you are one of the top juniors it is very, very tough. Every 50 spots is a huge jump.

What can you do to improve it?

In the days I played the Nationals had much more importance. So was the grass court Nationals. Not so much today. You need to attract players to play there — either with money or with ranking points. The ATP points are out of question. So if you give the winners say five lakhs, there is some incentive for them to play. Also, if one isn’t in the top-200, you should make it mandatory for them.

Also one needs to understand that you cannot make a life out of playing the Futures tournaments (the lowest rung). You need to get out of the rut as soon as you can. It’s a complete waste of time going to Spain and playing Futures. Rather play the qualifying of some Challenger. Also these days the top players don’t play each other. They don’t want to play sets, let alone matches. It’s done in the US. They get all the players at a place and organise matches. The whole level of play goes up.

Indians have traditionally done well in doubles. Why is that they drift towards the format? Don’t we need quality singles players to make a name in the Davis Cup?

Absolutely! We need two top 100 players to get ahead. I will say that all the youngsters should focus only on singles. There should be no thought about doubles for a good 10 years. No thought at all. Leander (Paes) and Mahesh (Bhupathi) played singles before switching. Rohan too played singles early on. If you want to play doubles, do it later in the career.

You have been the captain for two years now with a good amount of coaching involved. And you also travel to a lot of tournaments, see different players and coaches. How do you see this era of the high-profile coaches?

Who doesn’t have a coach? When Vijay (Amritraj) and I played we were each other’s coach. These days even doubles players have coaches. It is very helpful with the mental aspect.

So are you an advocate of court coaching like in the Davis Cup? The women’s game even had it.

No. It shouldn’t be even in the women’s event. It’s an individual sport. You are playing for yourself. You should be able to figure out things on your own.

http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/20150718506103800.htm

Fighting tooth and nail!

Most of the rivalries in sports are way bigger than just the actual games themselves. Geopolitics, economic warfare and even religion play a role and lend to much of the hysteria surrounding them. With the Ashes now round the corner, here is a look at five such rivalries from world over.

India vs. Pakistan (hockey)

Much before the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams gained traction, it was men’s hockey which was in the forefront. Those were the days when the two sub-continental nations ruled world hockey.

The two have a record of facing each other in the first six Asian Games hockey finals. In all they played in seven finals against each other with Pakistan winning six. From 1956 to 1964, they faced-off in three successive Olympic hockey finals. India won gold twice while Pakistan won once. In between all this, the two countries fought three wars too.

USA vs. USSR (Olympics)

From the arms race to the space race to nuclear interests, the Americans and the Russians competed everywhere. Sports was just an extension to it. In the 1972 Munich Olympics basketball final, the Russians won the gold under acrimonious circumstances which included two clock resets. The Americans appealed, but were rejected 3-2 by a five-member jury including Cuba, Poland and USSR! Then in 1980, came the ‘Miracle on Ice’ when the Russian hockey team, which had dominated the event in almost every Olympic tournament since 1954, was beaten by a set of amateur and college-level players from the U. S.

Springboks vs. All Blacks (rugby)

These are considered the two best rugby teams in history, dating back to 1921 when the All Blacks beat the Springboks in Dunedin 13-5. Such is the rivalry, it is said that when one plays rugby in South Africa, he always plays the All Blacks. It doesn’t matter where, but your opponent is always an All Black. Though the sides have had periods when they have dominated each other, the overall equation has been fairly balanced. Of the 89 played, New Zealand has 51 wins to South Africa’s 35. Like most, some of the battles were off the field too, like in 1981, when there were protests in New Zealand over the Springboks’ arrival due to the South African government’s policy of apartheid.

Argentina vs. Brazil (football)

It is perhaps the most sporting of rivalries. But like others, its genesis too lies in politics. It dates back to the territorial disputes the two nations inherited from their colonial powers (Spain and Portugal). Now, the South American giants compete fiercely to earn intra-continental bragging rights. In the 1990 World Cup, a Brazilian player accused Argentina’s trainers of giving him bottled water with a harmful substance in it which then came to be known as the “holy water” scandal. But now, with the European leagues in the forefront, the Argentina-Brazil rivalry is more associated with the perennial debate as to who is the greatest player ever? Diego Maradona or Pele?

The U.S. vs. Europe (Ryder Cup golf)

This rivalry is peculiar in the sense that the competition isn’t between two nations but between a nation (U. S.) and a continent (Europe). Named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy, it first started in 1927 between the U. S. and Great Britain. Beginning 1979, European golfers were allowed to compete with the Brits, largely to shore up the team in light of American dominance. Golf is a sport involving multi-million contracts, corporate interests and huge TV deals. Yet, such is the pedestal at which the Ryder Cup is placed, that the winners don’t get a single penny as prize money.

http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/20150718504601900.htm

Every step you take

On the eve of the 2012 UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper, was given a two-hour DVD of every penalty kick that Bayern had taken since 2007. It was enough to calculate the probability of which way the ball would be placed when a penalty was taken. Chelsea went on to win the match following a penalty shoot-out and thereafter Cech said, “Six penalties the right way and I saved three, so basically the homework was very good.”

This March, at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, Michael Niemeyer, Bayern’s head of match analysis, said of Pep Guardiola, the famed former manager of Barcelona and the current Bayern boss, “As he came to Bayern, the first thing he said was: ‘The match analysis department is the most important department for me.’ The second thing was: ‘I see a big part of my work in the auditorium.’ The auditorium is the place where he has video sessions.”

Football, as a sport, has long held out against numbers. Heart, soul, and the desire to win have always been cherished and rightly so, but the theoretical dimension of the game has been tough to take into account. The two instances above show that things are finally changing. In the words of Chris Anderson and David Sally who wrote The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know about Football is Wrong, “The datafication of life has started to infiltrate football”.

Charles Reep, a wing commander with the Royal Air Force, was the one who started it. In 1950, he logged data for a match involving Swindon Town. He is said to have noted 147 attacks by Swindon, extrapolated from there and concluded that close to 99 per cent of attacks were failures. He may have been right or wrong but he proved to be a pioneer, going on to log data for more than 2,000 matches.

Kick off

The real number crunching, however, took off only in the mid-1990s with the arrival of companies such as Opta and Prozone and their high-end technology. What is the percentage of goals scored from corners? What are the pass completion rates? How effective are throw-ins? What do teams do in the first few seconds after losing or winning the ball? What is the recovery time for a player between matches? Opta records something close to 1,500-2,000 events, of which the above is just a microcosm.

“Every step on a football pitch is measured now,” Roberto Martínez, the current Everton manager, told The Guardian. “We monitor each session with GPS and heart-rate profiles. From a physical point of view, the most significant stats are probably the number of sprints, the sprint distance and the amount of high-intensity efforts a player gets through. We look at these through the season and they give us a good indication of how fatigued a player is and the recovery he needs.”

As a discipline, analytics is slowly shaping how teams are built, how games are strategised, and how prospective players are scouted. Football now increasingly deals with abstracts. Every part of the pitch and every area off it is broken down and analysed. What it does is to destroy preconceived notions and eliminate experience bias. Someone who has been in the game all his life might not be able to spot everything. There is finally the realisation that metrics help you see the unseen. And this has been proven by Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal, who studied economics and mathematics and turned to a fitness ace to solve his problems; by Sally and Anderson, behavioural economist and professor of politics, respectively, who wrote The Numbers Game; and by the maths wizards whom Billy Beane appointed to revolutionise baseball.

Getting the numbers right

Simon Kuper, a Financial Times columnist and co-author of Soccernomics noted how Manchester City winning the English Premier League title had much to do with data. “The analysts persuaded the club’s then manager Roberto Mancini that the most dangerous corner kick is the inswinger, the ball that swings towards goal. Mancini had long argued (strictly from intuition) that outswingers were best. Eventually he capitulated and City scored 15 goals from corners, the most in the Premier League.” City won the League on goal difference.

However, much depends on how one uses the data. Technology is such that when one buys into it, he or she does so completely. There are no half measures. The trick lies in what to see and how to see. As Nate Silver, the master American psephologist who was once a baseball analyst, said, “Most of the data is just noise, as most of the universe is filled with empty space.”

In 2011, when Liverpool signed Andy Carroll for a whopping £35 million, it raised quite a few eyebrows. The then director of football Damien Comolli thought that Carroll, who had the highest conversion rate from crosses, in combination with Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, both of whom had the best passing numbers and a high percentage of winning the ball in the opponents’ penalty box, would bring in a goal rush. But he didn’t see the data that said that crosses are not always an effective way to score goals. The plan as a whole was a spectacular failure.

What this calls for is more refined metrics. No one thinks that intuition will ever go out of the game. The players are the ones who win you matches. But data, by being dispassionate, helps them maximise their talent. It is said that nothing has altered the way football has been played in almost a century except for the modern-day offside rule. In the years to come, analytics might be the next game-changer.

http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/sunday-anchor-every-step-you-take/article7386976.ece

Rapid evolution

No other professional sport has integrated technology into its world as well as tennis. Playing surfaces are ever newer. The International Tennis Federation recognises 160 of them. Ball-tracking technology, medical technology, social media interfaces, advancements in broadcasting have all revolutionised the way the game is played and consumed. It is evolving so rapidly that the 2014 Rules of Tennis have been amended to permit International Tennis Federation (ITF)-approved devices to be used during play. While the public, on one hand, focuses on the Roger Federers, Rafael Nadals and Novak Djokovics, the role of technology at the backend is unmistakably huge. Not for nothing did English novelist Martin Amis say, “a beautiful game, but one so remorselessly travestied by the passage of time.”

Yet, it is a fact that tennis is a sport full of conservatives. Players have always been slow to change. Old habits die hard. And the tension between the old and new, a feature of many a value system around the world, is glaring. Ask the old hand, he will decry the role of chance and luck. What used to be four radically different surfaces (the four Grand Slams) are now almost homogenous due to technology, he will say. Why should the same players with the same set of skills be rewarded again and again, he will ask. Why is that fate and human failings decide less and less and instead computers and sensors have a say more and more, he will wonder.

But everything has to move with the times. There will be pros and cons but evolution is inevitable. Here is a look at some of the technological advancements in tennis:

Racquets

It was wooden first. Then it became steel. Steel then turned into carbon and now graphene seems to be the new trick. American Jimmy Connors, when he won the Wimbledon in 1974, was the first to put the metal racquet in public minds. Billie Jean King did win the 1967 U.S. Open with metal but later returned to wooden racquets.

When Connors did what he did, it divided opinion. The wooden racquets were 65 square inches in size. The carbon ones can now go up to 137. There was once something called the ‘sweet spot’ and it required a bit of talent to make contact with the ball at that precise point. Now, the whole of the racquet is a sweet spot. Are players the primary determinants of a match result anymore is the underlying question.

But what technology did do was to customise the racquet for an individual player and increase the potential for improvement. It is no longer the look and feel of the equipment but the level of detail to the last grain that decides which racquet gets used. The latest among these is the ‘Babolat Play’ where sensors equipped inside the handle measures movement and vibrations from where a ball hits the string bed and captures data about every type of stroke. The data can then be transmitted to a smartphone or computer and analysed.

Hawk-Eye

One area where the traditionalists and the modernists seem to converge rather easily is on the use of Hawk-Eye which allows a player to challenge an official line call. It traces the arc of a bouncing ball, maps the path the ball takes and establishes whether it bounced in or out. It even takes into account how the ball skids and changes shape during contact with the ground. At an error threshold of 3.6 mm, it is almost perfect. The skeptics initially said it would interrupt the flow of the game and take out the human element. On the contrary, what it does is to place that human element in the players’ realm. In allowing just two unsuccessful challenges in each set, the interruption is minimum and the players need to know when and what to challenge, and this decision making is now considered an art in itself.

Biomechanics and video analysis

A tennis stroke is a thing of sophistication. Early research involved only the serve. Ground strokes were secondary. But with players getting all the more fitter, rallies extending, the need was for a well-rounded game. This is where biomechanics and video analysis come into the picture. How does one develop power and control? What is the stretch-shortening cycle of muscles? How much should one vary the pace, spin and direction of the ball? A plethora of video analysis systems are in place for the same. Why, players scout each other on YouTube these days and especially in Davis Cups when one draws obscure opponents, this is a God-send.

Low-compression tennis balls

Something that changed the fundamental way tennis was played was the introduction of low-compression tennis balls. These are lightweight balls that are easy to hit. The flight of the ball is slower and the bounce true, giving more time for one to play the ball and lengthen the rallies. This has come under severe criticism from some quarters for making certain aspects of the game like the volley and the drop shot rare and thereby making the game a one-dimensional baseline slugfest. But what is also true is that it really helps a youngster shape his strokes better and gives them more time to control and play the shots.

Did you know?

The net cord sensor’s first-ever version introduced in 1974 was a pick-up from the electric guitar — a mechanical effort (of ball hitting the net) being converted into electric charge (picked up by sensors).

Around 35 km of cables are wired through Melbourne Olympic Park during the Australian Open.

At Wimbledon, spare balls are kept at 20 degrees centigrade at the side of the court to keep them in perfect condition.

http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/20150711503801400.htm