When the Intercollegiate Tennis Association serves up its first national tournament of the 2018 season this weekend, a couple of the host schools will take part in a technology initiative implemented to make the game a bit fairer.
That technology? PlaySight’s PlayFair system, a video replay assistant that provides players and referees with the ability to challenge and watch video of a questionable line call. PlayFair works as part of PlaySight’s signature SmartCourt camera-and-kiosk setup that also delivers player and match analytics and live streaming capabilities.
PlayFair will be on full display at both the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, Friday through Sunday as college teams from across the country travel in to compete. Why USC and Cal? According to ITA chief operating officer Erica Perkins Jasper, those are the only two tournament host schools where all six courts are outfitted with PlayFair.
Only a few other colleges are participating in this year’s round of the pilot program; the first pilot, in 2017, was confined to two dual matches and one tournament, according to an ITA press release. Those other schools, Perkins Jasper said, are Virginia Tech, Iowa, and Princeton, and along with Cal and USC. They’ll host a significant number of men’s and women’s dual matches throughout the season with the technology in play.
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What the ITA is hoping the system does is create better sportsmanship on the court. Players can challenge calls, but ITA-certified referees will review the PlayFair video and then come to a final, binding decision.
“What we’re trying to do with this pilot — obviously PlaySight’s been at the forefront and very helpful, and their our partner — but really we’re trying to create rules and processes for replay in general, video replay in college tennis,” Perkins Jasper said by phone. “Obviously for PlaySight it’s an awesome opportunity because they’re getting coaches and players up close with that part of the technology.”
The organization also already has solid evidence that PlayFair works. At this past October’s Southern California Intercollegiate Championships, there were 70 challenged calls in 95 matches and a conclusive decision was made for all but two of them. Still, Perkins Jasper wondered if the referees wouldn’t like the technology. According to a news release from the tournament, a tablet is also in development that will help officials review calls quicker than having to go to the replay kiosk.
“To be really honest, I was actually very interested to see what their response was, and I actually thought that some officials might not like it,” Perkins Jasper said. “We’ve actually had a tremendously positive response from the officials… All really good officials want to make the right call, and in some ways, it backs up their calls, which I think they kind of enjoy.”
Both the coaches and referees at that tournament had high praise for PlayFair’s role in the game.
“The most interesting thing was the deterrent factor — players didn’t want to be known as calling something that they knew deep down was probably in,” Eric Steidlmayer, the men’s coach at UC Davis, said in a statement. “I saw it happen a few times where players changed their call prior to the umpire getting there to check.”
“The sportsmanship displayed at USC was better than normal. There were certainly fewer arguments, or general unhappiness over line calls,” Robert Ryan, an ITA referee, added.
The coaches of the teams visiting USC and Cal this weekend had to first agree to compete with PlayFair in use. But Perkins doesn’t think it’s the first time collegiate tennis players are seeing a form of video replay during competition. Most college tennis players are probably fans as well, she said, and they’ve likely seen advanced technologies like Hawk-Eye featured prominently at the professional level, potentially making the players more comfortable with the use of PlayFair in their own matches.
“You can try to make the best call every time and people make mistakes, and it’s funny, just having something where people can get a second look at it I think just changes the complete mood of the match and puts the focus really on the tennis and competing,” Perkins Jasper said.