Here’s the thing. If you are a tennis nerd (like I am, obviously) then you are unhealthily dependent on the IBM Slamtracker during Grand Slams. And gosh, it really, really sucks sometimes. I always forget how annoying it is, until it’s Day 1 of a Slam and I excitedly open it up and then it starts to mock me with it’s awfulness. Then I want to die.
Before I start to confess that I’m actually exaggerating, let me move on with the list of things I would improve if I knew anything about techy stuff and could design the IBM Slamtracker. Please feel free to add your own suggestions below. Let’s be heard, tennis fans.
1. MAKE IT SO YOU CAN SEE ALL THE SCORES AT ONCE.
Sorry, I couldn’t hold back on the caps. I needed to get that out. Look, I know that there are a whole lot of matches during the first few days of a slam, but the fact that there is no way to see all of the scores at once is just infuriating. Every single slam there are matches that I miss or completely forget about just for the simple fact that I forget to scroll. There has got to be a way to make it so that you can see the scores from all the courts at once!
At the very least there should be a way to pick and choose which matches you want to look at so you can easily track your own players.
2. Make head-to-heads available.
Look, it’s not rocket science. Tennis is an individual sport and the match-ups make a difference. The ATP/WTA Pro Tennis Live scoreboard offers this feature and I become heavily dependent on it. I miss it greatly during Grand Slams.
3. Be able to see rankings and basic info about a player without opening another window.
Now, all of this is just the epitome of #firstworldproblems, but gosh it is annoying when I click on the player’s name to get more info–such as ranking and age and social security number–and then nothing happens. And then I keep clicking on the name and nothing happens. Then I get frustrated. Then I get distracted and forget about it because there are a million things going on during a slam and I am ADD. And then 10 minutes later I realize that back in my browser there have been 10 tabs open with Eva Binerova’s information in it and I don’t even care anymore because WHO?
This information should all be available within the slamtracker itself. Duh.
4. Easy-to-read stats.
So, like, I’m clicking around trying to find out winners and unforced errors and maybe to laugh at how many double-faults Fernando Verdasco has, and all of a sudden I see this:
WHAT.
THE.
HELL.
Okay, so I don’t know where to begin, but apparently I need to go back to calculus before I can read these stats. Actually, I never even took calculus. My bad. Anyways, I have absolutely no idea why the pie graphs and line graphs and color-coding is necessary. Clearly labeled columns that are easy to follow. Basic stats. Nothing fancy. I shouldn’t feel like I need a how-to manual to read the stats.
5. Better pictures.
Or maybe not. These are funny.
6. An explanation for “Positive Sentiment.”
I just do not understand.
What was that graph?!? That is bad. Never gone that far down the rabbit hole.
just make the fecking thing smaller .. I never use it because I cannot watch actual tennis because it engulfs my entire fucking screen!!!!!
k thanks
Thanks for the post Lindsey, great that someone finally mentioned this.
What I miss the most is the option to see the results of the completed matches. When I tune in at various times during a day, I would like to be able to see the ongoing and completed matches’ results at the same place. Can’t be that hard.
Agree with you about the need to see all ongoing matches at once, as well as that some of those fancy graphs they put on are really useless indeed. But actually, the stats screenshots you’ve posted don’t seem that complicated to read. Perhaps if you just put in a bit of effort.
Finally, I must note that the official atp/wta scoreboard for regular tour tournaments is even worse than the IBM slamtracker.
Just agree with everything!!
This article made me laugh a lot! I have been using the much simpler live scores on the Wimbledon iPad app which is fantastic, particularly compared to the pile of rubbish that Roland Garros offered up.
Keep up the good work 🙂