Serve up an advantage with the Babolat Play connected tennis racket

Can a Rafael Nadal-endorsed, data-collecting tennis racket improve a wayward backhand?

The Babolat AeroPro Drive Play connected tennis racket comes with a sensor embedded in the handle plus matching app that syncs via Bluetooth, recording the minutiae of your playing performance. The truly fearless (or perhaps just the very best) players can share their stats with other users via the app. Yet although apparently endorsed by tennis god Rafael Nadal, his superhuman performance statistics are nowhere to be seen on the community page, which is a little disappointing.

For mere mortals, setting up the racket is uniquely frustrating in only the way that an unsuccessful Bluetooth syncing experience can be. I turn the racket on. I press sync on the app. Bluetooth is on. The racket says it is connected but won't sync with the app. Rinse and repeat for about half an hour.

Related: Zepp sensor review: a racket-mounted app that can improve your tennis