Play Tennis

Creating Local Community with Tennis

Android

Health & Fitness

Sports

Tennis

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Hey! Nate from Play Tennis here. Super excited to be live on Product Hunt. First and foremost - any feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated. We’re trying to create an awesome experience for tennis players of all levels so any feedback is helpful. Onto the problem statement… Like most startups here the idea behind Play Tennis was triggered by an unmet need of wanting to play more tennis. I’ve played tennis most of my life yet I struggled to find consistent matches during my free time with a level matched player when I moved to a new city or traveled. Tennis isn’t like some sports where your opponent’s skill level is less important. Without an evenly skilled pairing it’s very hard for either player to have a good experience. I tried all the existing solutions: Facebook groups, leagues, apps, group chats. Some were more successful than others for a short period of time, but they all created frustrations of their own (i.e. anonymous accounts, unreliable players, ghosting, infrequent play). So I figured I’d try creating something new. A tennis partner app isn’t a new idea, in fact several have tried it before us. Of all the ones I tried (and I tried many), none centered the human-to-human experience that’s critical to finding a viable tennis partner. The apps I tried felt like dictionaries of players that could be filtered by specific profile attributes. As someone who’s played with hundreds of players and messaged thousands more, I know a simple filter isn’t how genuine matches are made. My partner and I crafted a matching experience that focuses on social graph overlap, schedule availability, proximity, skill, and many other factors that create sufficient trust to meet a stranger at a court. Players are shown each other’s match history and other players they’ve hit with, a key component in social proofing their opponent. Conversations feel natural as the platform is focused on playing tennis with similarly interested locals. Play Tennis first launched in LA a little over a year ago on a few courts. Since that time the app has expanded to over 25 US cities with over 20,000 active players. We’ve layered on user requested features like tennis court directories, tennis coaches and lessons, and now tennis flex leagues (for the more competitive players). What I’m most proud of is the app’s ability to create genuine human relationships through tennis. Here’s what just a few players had to say: “Play Tennis LA has made finding people to play tennis easier than I could have imagined. I've met wonderful people and had a blast playing” “After moving to LA, I struggled to find tennis partners, but this website made it so I was playing with new people every week.” “I have been searching for tennis partners for a long time and when I came across this app within 2 days I found 2 people I hit with regularly” Thanks so much for your interest in the app. Create a free account at https://joinplaytennis.com if you want to give it a try. See you on the courts!