The Rally Tennis App is Here! Mat Vogels Explains Why this App will change your TENNIS Life & get you playing more!

[TW Staff]

Want to play more tennis?! Us to! In this episode, Mat Vogels from Rally Tennis talks all about the newest tennis app to help you meet new people and play more tennis! This app connects players of all levels all over the country to get you on the court and hitting more balls! Whether you want to be ultra-competitive or just are looking for someone new to practice with, Rally Tennis will connect you with players close in area and skill level for more court time!

Download Rally Tennis Now: https://www.rallytennis.com

Compete in leagues, find practice partners, improve your game, and much more.

Happy Hitting!

 

[sureshs]

I am on this app

 

[Rosstour]

*us too

lol

 

[TW Staff]

Awesome, @Rosstour & @sureshs -- feel free to share any of your experiences on meeting new players and using it to get on the court more!

Michelle, TW

 

[sureshs]

There are quite a few practice partners signed up locally in the app, but unfortunately none of them seem to be near where I am. They seem to be concentrated around downtown. I have been approached by a couple of them and I have contacted a couple of them, but the timing/location did not work out.

The real test will come with monetization. The moment that "premium" paid services are introduced is the time when users will start thinking whether to continue using the app. I have seen so many tennis connection websites and apps go dead and not even due to monetization. What users want is a free app to find and contact other players within a specifiable distance with options to filter by gender and NTRP. That is about it. They don't like limits on the number of unpaid messages, filtering out of phone number or email address in the messages (to make users use only the app to communicate, at least initially) and "match making" services. They just want a free search engine with the 3 filters I mentioned.

They will not mind a few ads popping up and details about members who are coaches and want to sell lessons. Beyond that, they don't want to spend money.

 

[FlamingCheeto]

so it's a free app as of now?

 

[sureshs]

so it's a free app as of now?

So far I have not paid anything. There may be some paid features but I am not aware of them.

 

[sureshs]

OK I now see the reason for the thread. I checked the app now and there is a "Shop Tennis Warehouse link."

 

[TW Staff]

OK I now see the reason for the thread. I checked the app now and there is a "Shop Tennis Warehouse link."

@sureshs

The reason for this thread was to promote the podcast episode (as all other posts in this section do), and yes, they are an affiliate of ours - which for me was cool because I probably wouldn't have had a chance to connect with Mat. It was fun to hear how he is continuing to grow the app as well as take feedback from users!

Michelle, TW

 

[sureshs]

If the goal is to make the app a tennis league app, it will be interesting to see how that goes. There are numerous USTA regular and Flex leagues, and a couple of other private ones where I live which offer UTR-based leagues across age and gender and feedback their results to UTR. The monetary model there is to charge for league membership by season, but then you have to provide the entire communication and score-recording services.

 

[Curtennis]

Downloaded and now having to pay $10 a month to use. Already deleted.

 

[sureshs]

Downloaded and now having to pay $10 a month to use. Already deleted.

I downloaded before the official launch to become an early user and so I suppose I am coasting on that membership for free. Let us see. All I use is the practice partner list and the ability to send and receive a message through that.

 

[sureshs]

One crucial feature of these apps and sites must be security. There are several tennis sites still around which are practically defunct (no new players) which are flagged by Edge or Chrome as possibly having been hacked for personal data like passwords. Many of them seem to have been created as a hobby by someone and they are now security traps. Always use a site which is currently popular in large numbers, like the Meetup tennis groups, and quite possibly, a new app like this one, as security awareness has increased.

 

[Curtennis]

I downloaded before the official launch to become an early user and so I suppose I am coasting on that membership for free. Let us see. All I use is the practice partner list and the ability to send and receive a message through that.

I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the app. All I know is I click on the Philadelphia group and it said $10 a month to join. They’re looking to rake in money.

 

[TW Staff]

I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the app. All I know is I click on the Philadelphia group and it said $10 a month to join. They’re looking to rake in money.

@Curtennis

As mentioned in the episode, Rally Tennis is super open to feedback so I would recommend reaching out if you have any helpful feedback (good or bad). With that being said, I'm fairly certain you can connect with "hitting partners" in the free version as well I do think there is a bit of a trial phase. And while I can understand struggling with a paid version, many of us do pay to belong to clubs or gyms or groups, so if you put it into perspective in that sense, $10 a month is much less than most gyms charge (at least in California!) or even is less than a drop in hit session at a club.

I will direct Mat to some of this feedback though -- I'm sure he will be stoked you checked out their app!
Michelle, TW

 

[sureshs]

With that being said, I'm fairly certain you can connect with "hitting partners" in the free version

Hitting partners are specific to a group. The question is whether you can see them for free if you cannot join a group for free. As I said, I got in early so I am already in a group.

 

[sureshs]

many of us do pay to belong to clubs or gyms or groups, so if you put it into perspective in that sense, $10 a month is much less than most gyms charge (at least in California!) or even is less than a drop in hit session at a club.

Meetup tennis groups are completely free (though sometimes the organizers ask for cans of balls or money, but you just bypass them and connect directly with players). Only the person who owns the group has to pay Meetup.

Tennispal is another app I use which has been totally free for me so far. It has a bunch of players and I can search based on gender and distance and message them. @Curtennis you should download it and see what is its player footprint in your area.

 

[TW Staff]

Hitting partners are specific to a group. The question is whether you can see them for free if you cannot join a group for free. As I said, I got in early so I am already in a group.

I'm just happy to connect and help tell stories and promote tennis and people in the tennis world.

Michelle, TW

 

[racquetlab]

Is the app still active? I see all their social media went silent after June 28th.

 

[TW Staff]

Is the app still active? I see all their social media went silent after June 28th.

@nyc

As far as I know, yes -- this podcast was recorded just a couple weeks ago and I downloaded the app and have used it since, so definitely still active. They do have a small team, so not 100% sure why they haven't been posting but can imagine it may just be due to having their hands full -- I'll be sure to let Mat know and give him a head's up!

Michelle, TW

 

[sureshs]

Is the app still active? I see all their social media went silent after June 28th.

It is. Player list is growing and I get alerts when someone new joins.

 

[racquetlab]

Signed up, but only 2 players in my area

 

[matvogels]

so it's a free app as of now?

We have two main ways to use Rally Tennis: Practice/Hitting Partners and Competitive Ladder-style Leagues.

Joining and playing in the Practice Partner leagues will always be free, with no limitations on any features in there!

Joining Competitive Leagues requires a Rally Pro subscription, which is $10/mo (and can cancel any time!).

Good question!

 

[matvogels]

Downloaded and now having to pay $10 a month to use. Already deleted.

The $10/mo subscription is only to play in the competitive leagues, but playing in the Practice Partner leagues is completely free with no limitations! So you’ll be able to find and hit with players near you at all levels

 

[matvogels]

Is the app still active? I see all their social media went silent after June 28th.

We are very much active! But great feedback to be more active on social - we’ve been busy lately with some really exciting new features, but hope to get back to regular social posting soon!

 

[matvogels]

Meetup tennis groups are completely free (though sometimes the organizers ask for cans of balls or money, but you just bypass them and connect directly with players). Only the person who owns the group has to pay Meetup.

Tennispal is another app I use which has been totally free for me so far. It has a bunch of players and I can search based on gender and distance and message them. @Curtennis you should download it and see what is its player footprint in your area.

These are definitely great options! And ones I used to use as well. The ability to find and play with practice partners in your area with Rally is also completely free, with no limitations. We are adding the ability to feature by distance/gender/rating in the next couple weeks too

You’d only pay if you wanted to join our local competitive leagues

 

[matvogels]

I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the app. All I know is I click on the Philadelphia group and it said $10 a month to join. They’re looking to rake in money.

Thank you for the feedback! We’ve defintely done a subpar job at making it easy to know what’s free and what’s not

You will be able to join and play in the practice partner league in Philadelphia completely for free and with no limitations

But yup to join the local competitive leagues takes a Rally Pro subscription ($10/mo). Over time we are looking yo expand what this subscription gets you as well, including educational videos, coaching/lessons, tournaments and more!

Thanks again for the feedback

 

[racquetlab]

Hey @matvogels, l like the intuitive design of the app so far and I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into the app to date - one feature that I think is most critical is the ability to search for players by location/NTRP/gender. That way I could find potential hitting partners when traveling.

It also would be great to pull in verification of NTRP levels.

Thanks

 

[Curtennis]

Thank you for the feedback! We’ve defintely done a subpar job at making it easy to know what’s free and what’s not

You will be able to join and play in the practice partner league in Philadelphia completely for free and with no limitations

But yup to join the local competitive leagues takes a Rally Pro subscription ($10/mo). Over time we are looking yo expand what this subscription gets you as well, including educational videos, coaching/lessons, tournaments and more!

Thanks again for the feedback

Thanks for getting back to me. I see I’m now in the practice group.
Anyway to sort by map locations? So many people in the Philly group and many of them are in the burbs like me. I’d like to be able to find them without having to search everything in google maps.

 

[racquetlab]

To add to my previous post - it would be great to select a court on a map search and see a list of players whose home court that is, so I can reach out to players my level for a practice hit.

 

[matvogels]

Hey @matvogels, l like the intuitive design of the app so far and I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into the app to date - one feature that I think is most critical is the ability to search for players by location/NTRP/gender. That way I could find potential hitting partners when traveling.

It also would be great to pull in verification of NTRP levels.

Thanks

Thank you! We're so excited about all the things we have in store just in the next few months!

There are two updates here that we plan on making over time. The first (which is coming up within the next couple weeks) will be to filter the leagues you are in by distance from your home court, NTRP and Gender.

But this won't solve the second thing you're looking for, which is to make the Practice Leagues themselves less location specific. Right now we have players join specific practice leagues (e.g. Practice Partners NYC), so even when you are filtering in there it's only showing players within this league in NYC. We definitely plan on changing this, and are already thinking about the best way to do so.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[matvogels]

To add to my previous post - it would be great to select a court on a map search and see a list of players whose home court that is, so I can reach out to players my level for a practice hit.

Another good idea! One we are currently exploring is instead of viewing players in a list view, you'd be able to browse in a Map view, where you'd see players profile pictures on a map and could zoom in and see them at different courts.

 

[matvogels]

I downloaded before the official launch to become an early user and so I suppose I am coasting on that membership for free. Let us see. All I use is the practice partner list and the ability to send and receive a message through that.

Thanks for being an early member! Practice Partner lists will always be free for you, so you won't need any paid subscription to keep enjoying it!

 

[sureshs]

Hey @matvogels, l like the intuitive design of the app so far and I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into the app to date - one feature that I think is most critical is the ability to search for players by location/NTRP/gender. That way I could find potential hitting partners when traveling.

It also would be great to pull in verification of NTRP levels.

Thanks

I asked for the same and he said it will be showing up soon.

 

[sureshs]

I hope this one succeeds. There was only TennisBuddy app at one time, but I think it is no longer active, from my memory and from some of the comments on the Internet about it now.

Now it is down to TennisPal and RallyTennis.

There are some others but they seem to be specific to a country or even to a city, and outside the US.

It is incredible that a social sport like tennis lacks apps like this. Compared to the million "dating" and "hookup" apps out there (not that I know about them). I suspect Pickleball will end up having more find-a-partner apps at the rate at which it is going.

 

[beltsman]

App looks good so far. Easy to use and find players. Devs very open to feedback and they have a lot of features coming (I chatted with one of them).

 

[racquetlab]

biggest hurdle is to grow customer base so you have critical mass for the app to work, specially outside of big metro areas. Needs some real investment to get market specific advertising going. But hard to raise capital if there's limited proof of concept in the market. I wish them good luck - it would be great if this takes off!

 

[sureshs]

The new gender filter is odd. It only allows for "show only those of your gender." A much more common and intuitive way of doing this is to offer a gender option. Default would be all, otherwise that selected. I don't understand why this peculiar and limiting way of framing the choice.

 

[Curtennis]

The new gender filter is odd. It only allows for "show only those of your gender." A much more common and intuitive way of doing this is to offer a gender option. Default would be all, otherwise that selected. I don't understand why this peculiar and limiting way of framing the choice.

Because this isn’t a dating app? I can’t imagine many honest scenarios of people preferring to exclusively hit cross gender.

 

[sureshs]

Because this isn’t a dating app? I can’t imagine many honest scenarios of people preferring to exclusively hit cross gender.

Not true for singles. It is often easier to find women who want to play singles and are at or below your level than to find the same with men. There are many reasons for that, including ego problems if they lose, preference to play doubles, or preference to play only within a small clique.

 

[beltsman]

The app is great and I think it's a missing niche. But it's not popular in my area. Any clue as to why its not catching on? I much prefer this to doing meetup groups for casual play.

 

[TW Staff]

The app is great and I think it's a missing niche. But it's not popular in my area. Any clue as to why its not catching on? I much prefer this to doing meetup groups for casual play.

Let's see if we can get @matvogels to jump in and answer that one for you

If I am not mistaken though, you can start sharing with some people in your area and hope it just catches on with sharing, but I can understand that might take a bit of time. But good ole grassroots word of mouth might help!

Michelle, TW

 

[AceyMan]

In my area playyourcourt.com seems to have decent traction and I've met most of my new hitting buddies thru the app.

It's paid, but it's a reasonable yearly rate and finding a coupon was easy at the time so it was less than $30USD for the year when I signed up.

Just some data points for comparison purposes.

/Acey

 

[sureshs]

Rally Tennis is shutting down per their email today. I told you that I had doubts about their monetization. There are way too many free Meetup and FB groups to find tennis partners

 

[Curtennis]

Not true for singles. It is often easier to find women who want to play singles and are at or below your level than to find the same with men. There are many reasons for that, including ego problems if they lose, preference to play doubles, or preference to play only within a small clique.

So why not leave it open to both genders then and just see who you get? There's only one reason for a man exclusively looking for a woman partner, and it's not strictly tennis.

 

[beltsman]

They shut down? That's a shame. They had a good product. I guess they never got traction. I did notice that Play your court put out a ton of marketing in the past year or so.

 

[sureshs]

They shut down? That's a shame. They had a good product. I guess they never got traction. I did notice that Play your court put out a ton of marketing in the past year or so.

Many such apps have failed. TennisPal is the only one still surviving.

 

[beltsman]

Many such apps have failed. TennisPal is the only one still surviving.

Sad!

 

[sureshs]

Sad!

What is sad is that failed apps often leak security information like passwords to hackers. As the morale at the company plunges, security can be compromised.

 

[Parabellum]

Many such apps have failed. TennisPal is the only one still surviving.

Sad!

Yeah sad is right, TennisPal sucks and even PlayYourCourt isn't good. I have issues with searching on PYC and both of them, barely anyone ever answers even in a tennis populated area like South Florida.

The only success I have really found are the Facebook Tennis Groups.