# New year, new idea

By [Kuantify](https://paragraph.com/@huangkuan) · 2026-01-16

tennis, drone, robotics

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Happy 2026 to all my friends! I want to share with you a little crazy idea that I've just started working on—but first, a bit of background.

I started learning tennis a little over 3.5 years ago, and I’m now at [USTA 4.0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbt0P8Rj1o) level. For someone who can't play every week, I think that’s pretty solid progress. But here’s the catch: getting to this level has cost real money.

I’ve taken at least 20 hours of private lessons, usually $100–$140 per hour. On top of that, I’ve done plenty of group classes—so many that I stopped counting a long time ago. When you add it all up, coaching becomes the biggest expense for anyone trying to improve, whether you’re a pro or a recreational player.

Besides taking lessons, I try to practice with the right hitting partners as much as possible. That sounds simple, but it isn’t. It’s hard to consistently find people at the right level—and as I’ve improved, I’ve also wanted to play against different styles and intensity levels. For a recreational player, that’s surprisingly difficult.

I have also tried the ball machine but it comes with its own problem: First, lots of public courts don’t allow it since the machine can only serve balls which tend to scatter everywhere. Second, the ball machine is not cheap. A decent one easily costs around $1000. And third… they’re boring. After a while, hitting the same ball over and over gets pretty repetitive.

So what do I do? Well… I’m an entrepreneur, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Here’s the crazy idea I’m exploring: **what if I could build a flying tennis racket that can rally with me like a real pro?**

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4b5104f631f4287e51c0a0296ad872ac5e35d4d2ef9b62c4044fae45de274250.png)

An AI generated image that explains the concept. The final shape might be very different from this.

At a high level, this actually feels doable.

We already have small racing drones that can fly close to 100 miles per hour.  
We already have computer vision technology that can see and react faster than humans.  
We already have 3D printers that can manufacture almost any parts.

Of course, the devil is in the details. The real challenge is figuring out how to package all of this technology together—and turn it into something that's usable and marketable.

And that’s the journey I’m starting this year. I am planning to share my updates in public regularly and hope to get as much valuable input as I can from any interested people. As someone who doesn't have too much background in electrical engineering and hardware design, I am sure I can learn a lot from this approach.

More soon, wish me luck :)

  

_PS: A little bit research reveals that this might not be just my own itches. According to ITF (International Tennis Federation), there are_ [](https://www.itftennis.com/en/news-and-media/articles/itf-global-tennis-report-participation-hits-106-million-in-five-years/)**_100+ million_** _people_ _play tennis globally as of 2024. US alone has_ **_25+ million_** _people_ [](https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2025-pdfs/2025-usta-tennis-participation-report.pdf)_play tennis, with a_ **_7-8%_** _annual growth rate since 2020 (_[_USTA participation report 2025_](https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2025-pdfs/2025-usta-tennis-participation-report.pdf)_). Asia has 35+ million people play tennis. China alone has_ **_25+ million_** _people play tennis, a whopping_ **_30%_** _increase since 2021! (_[_XinHua News_](https://english.news.cn/20250417/904b28fd83524915a8073c8ba2feefd7/c.html)_) Tennis is the core cultural sport in Europe with about_ **_30 million_** _people who play although it's growth rate is not as impressive as the other two continents._

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e1fe34b294a3e0ad5c81545b3e2e1e52419a00f9b6cfadae002e534b0cec8cbb.jpg)

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*Originally published on [Kuantify](https://paragraph.com/@huangkuan/new-year-new-idea)*