Two of the three so-called GOATs (Greatest of All Time), Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, have already said goodbye to the big stage, and Austria’s long-time figurehead Dominic Thiem is also hanging up his tennis shoes – and yet the sport of tennis is still enjoying itself increasing popularity in recent years. This is shown by successful tennis blockbuster films such as “King Richard” or “Challengers”, this is demonstrated by fully booked courts – and, last but not least, many well-attended tournaments. But: “Tennis unfortunately lags behind other sports when it comes to digitalization,” emphasizes Fabian Henger. Accordingly, the passionate tennis player and his two co-managing directors Armin Zangerl and Simon Kneringer set out to change something with the company “slamstr”.
Use inputs
“Our idea was to introduce live scoring into tennis tournaments,” explains Henger. What is already common in football, even in the lowest leagues, proved to be a challenge in tennis. “So we thought about: What input does a tennis player give on the court anyway?” says Henger. The answer: recording the scores on the scoreboard. It was simply a matter of utilizing it.
So they set about developing a weatherproof, energy-efficient, battery-operated digital scoreboard – there is a rental and a purchase model – and a matching app. It was clear from the start: “Tennis must remain tennis, there should be no additional effort.” With slamstr it is now easy to follow scores live. “So far, communication has taken place in hundreds of WhatsApp groups – very tedious for the players and also the organizers,” says Henger. The interest is correspondingly strong.
A system like ours has never existed before – we produced everything ourselves from scratch. The first panels were handmade.
They are now working with ÖTV, using the system at the Styrian state championships and also attracting interest from abroad. In October, the scoreboard was used at a tournament in Berlin, slamstr is also used at international youth tournaments organized by “Tennis Europe”, and there have also been inquiries from Hungary and Australia. Henger: “It is also a relief for the tournament directors when it comes to planning – for the division of the games, for a smooth process.”
In addition to the scoreboard, slamstr has other ideas. “We want to build a community tool, so to speak, convert e-sports into tennis,” says Henger. He’s always faced with the problem of not being able to find playing partners – and if he does, it’s always the same ones. “We want to incorporate an automatic player search into our system and also an equally automatic seat booking.”
They also want to offer something for the club system, which is very strong in Austria, with a specially developed “club manager”. “For better planning – from booking seats to live scoring. The board and our system should also offer added value for hobby players outside of tournaments and leagues.” A separate tool for coaches and referees is also being planned. Ultimately, users should simply decide for themselves which functions could be relevant for them. “In the medium term, we want to raise the level again with our system,” explains Henger.
Quergefragt
What is your vision?
Henger: To enable tennis to take important digitization steps and to connect players with an overall solution and offer live scoring.
What is the feedback like?
Super! Of course, we initially had to do pioneering work. But because I’m a user myself, I know: We’ve built something cool!
What are the next goals?
We are working on the club manager and player search, making improvements – and getting off to a good start with the new season.
