Sean Callanan chats with Gus Balbontin in the Tennis Lab Racquet Room to find out how they are applying high performance analysis extending Hawk-eye technology to help elite tennis players match their racquet to their game.
On this podcast you'll learn about:
- The importance of picking the right racquet for tennis players
- How the partnership between Tennis Australia and Victoria University came about
- How Tennis Lab use data to help players in the racquet selection process
- The challenges of being in the R&D space
- Where they see the Tennis Lab heading in the future
- How the Game Insights Group produce valuable content for Australian Open partners
Listen to Gus Balbontin on Sports Geek
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Our fave quote from Gus Balbontin interview
“There is such a lack of understanding of the importance of a tennis racquet in the game of tennis and for some reason completely underestimate it. “
Gus Balbontin
Need a keynote speaker for your next event or conference?
About Gus Balbontin
Gus Balbontin is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Victoria University. He was the former Executive Director and CTO of Lonely Planet, a company he led globally that dominated the world of travel information in the internet and mobile.
Born in the Argentinean Patagonia, Gus dreamt of travelling the world. At 17, he won a scholarship grant that landed him a trip to Australia that eventually changed his life. This experience led him to his dream job working as a designer for Lonely Planet. After eight roles with the company and an MBA on his shoulders, he led the team that launched ebooks, apps and reinvented the content production process that has become an amazing travel brand.
Gus has worked with big corporate brands such as Google X, Nokia, Apple and Amazon in developing a cutting edge technology and business transformation.
To date, Gus continues to share his knowledge and experience in digital disruption, business transformation, business innovation and culture through keynote presentations.
Gus describes himself as a big thinker who doesn’t let life’s hurdles get in the way of big solutions.
Learn more about Gus on gusbalbontin.com/about
Resources from the podcast
- Connect with Gus Balbontin on Twitter @gusbalbontin, Instagram and LinkedIn
- Follow Tennis Lab on Twitter @TennisAusGIG and Instagram
- Some related articles you might want to read:
- Some Sports Geek episodes you might be interested in:
- A look behind Australian Open with Kim Trengove and Daniel Lattimer
- Super Bowl battle – Facebook Vs Twitter & AO Blitz a win for Tennis
- Tom Halls filling courts and stands for British Tennis
- Peter Holtermann – Tennis, Broadcast & Digital
- Get special discounts for the National Sports Forum as a Sports Geek listener. Go to SportsGeekHQ.com/nsf and use the code SPORTSGEEK100
- Follow and support Gravitas on the OPL season of the League of Legends. Visit Gravitas.gg now
- Need help with your team or athlete's digital? Go to Sports Geek Social Media Athlete Training
- Learn more about Sports Geek's Digital to Dollars process
- Loved this podcast episode? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts
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- Already a member of Sports Geek Nation? Check out the AMA with Vincent Ircandia full transcript on the Members Area
- See the highlights from Vincent Ircandia on understanding the sports fan journey through data
Highlights from podcast with Gus Balbontin
3:28 Gus Balbontin on what Tennis Lab does
5:35 How the partnership of Victoria University and Tennis Australia started
8:24 Gus on the process of racquet selection in the Racquet Room
11:57 Where they see the Tennis Lab heading in the near future
13:45 Why tennis players should choose the right racquet
15:11 What tennis can learn from other sports like golf in terms of product innovation
17:36 The challenges of being in the research and development space
19:05 How the Game Insights Group produce content the is valuable to Australian Open partners
26:03 Gus’ favourite moment in the Australian Open precinct
29:37 Sean will be doing the Digital to Dollars workshop at the National Sports Forum in February. Go to SportsGeekHQ.com/NSF and use the code SportsGeek100 to get a $100 discount as a Sports Geek listener.
Go to DigitaltoDollars.com to know more about this workshop.
34: 28 Sound of the game: Gravitas vs Dire Wolves on the League of Legends
Follow Gravitas at Gravitas.gg or @GravitasOCE on Twitter and Instagram.
Some tweets you may have missed:
The sports science behind the game
Which ball travels faster?
The 1st SF is about to start, and @Petra_Kvitova won't hesitate. She's put high time pressure on her opponents with her strong forehand. Her avg. time from impact to net is 0.4s.
Watch out if Collins stays further behind the baseline to buy some time. pic.twitter.com/gfk6FdpzH9
— Game Insight Group (@TennisAusGIG) January 24, 2019
Interesting facts
~ Straight from the lab 🔎 #8
Did you know that you lose almost 20% of string tension within the first 3 minutes of stringing your racquet?
The graph below shows the tension loss in a popular polyester string strung at 55lbs.
How do you allow for this in your game?#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Xn7tNog8Wr
— Game Insight Group (@TennisAusGIG) January 22, 2019
Data-based predictions!
The numbers have been crunched and @TennisAusGIG's data-based predictions to take out the women's crown are in 👀 #GameInsightGroup | #Infosys pic.twitter.com/lvu9kjWrDv
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2019
Here is Nadal's serve, you can't unsee this
Rafa in the Tennis Lab
Nice to be at the Australian Open
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Thanks for the review on Apple Podcasts
I would like to meet you at NSF 2019 in Vegas
★★★★★ in Apple Podcasts by KWilson805 from USA on January 25, 2019
Congrats Sean on the purchase of the Esports franchise. I’m Kevin and I really enjoyed your first podcast of 2019 with Ron Seaver. At first I thought you cut him off a little to early, but as the podcast went on you two started to get a good rhythm going. Last year was my first year at the forum and absolutely loved it. I was a member of the NSF Business Development Sports & Entertainment group and my goal was to meet as many people as possible to eventually build some solid relationships for a future career move. I hope to challenge you on being a late-night networker and still getting up early for the morning session, but we’ll see, lol. Seriously, I would really like to meet up with you at the Forum. I will get in on Friday evening and be there through Wednesday. After listening to many of your podcasts in 2018, your knowledge of the industry is insightful and I have some thoughts to run by you about the industry. I apologize for the long review, but keep up the great work and I hope you agree to meeting up and share an adult beverage with me. Take Care, Kevin Wilson P.S. I definitely plan to attend the Digital to Dollars breakout session you’ll be leading.
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