High-tech help to improve your tennis game

RIVERDALE (WABC) -- [br /]For years, all the high-tech gadgets to improve your game have focused on golf.[br /][br /]But now tennis is getting some 'love', as digital courts and smart racquets offer to turn you into the next Rafael Nadal.[br /][br /]Sometimes you can hear that you're doing something wrong, but until you actually see it and see how frequently you do it, you don't do anything about it, which is why new tennis technology may be a way to ace your game.[br /][br /]Last year Michal Berekat got the gold in the Maccabi Games for doubles in the 35 and older category, and while having a coach helped, she believes a lot had to do with the smart court machine developed by Playsight.[br /][br /]Five video cameras on the court record every move, which you can review courtside, or once you're home.[br /][br /]"The thing is the first time I watched myself I was like, oh my God please don't show it to me, I don't want to see myself, I can't believe I look like that. But that's reality," said Berekat.[br /][br /]But it isn't just video. It's analysis, data points and stats.[br /][br /]Gilad Bloom consulted with Playsight. He's also a pro at the Tennis Club of Riverdale, where kids are benefitting as well.[br /][br /]"It's a great tool for me as a pro, as a teaching pro, to A, show the kids calmly what they're doing wrong without having to yell, and B, the kids getting it at home so they can recap," said Bloom.[br /][br /]And the system even condenses the action so you don't have to fast-forward through hours of play, a great tool when you know you have something to work on.[br /][br /]For me, that forehand is lost after years of not playing. The video doesn't lie. "Your arm is bent like a chicken wing," Bloom told me.[br /][br /]I work on that and my follow through, and suddenly things start to improve. If you can live with watching yourself, you'll find seeing is believing, which is why these machines are starting to pop up at clubs all over.[br /][br /]"I think once you see it, your brain kind of understands because you visualize it," said Berekat.[br /][br /]The Tennis Club of Riverdale doesn't charge anything extra to use the Playsight technology. Each club has its own policies. There are nearly two dozen of these machines now, and almost all of them are in New Jersey and New York.[br /][br /]For more information on the Club of Riverdale:[br /][url HREF="http://www.tcr-nyc.com/[br /]" TARGET="http://www.tcr-nyc.com/[br /]" REL="http://www.tcr-nyc.com/[br /]"]http://www.tcr-nyc.com/[br /][/url][br /][br /]For more information on Playsight:[br /][url HREF="http://www.playsight.com/Main.aspx[br /]" TARGET="http://www.playsight.com/Main.aspx[br /]" REL="http://www.playsight.com/Main.aspx[br /]"]http://www.playsight.com/Main.aspx[br /][/url][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /][br /]