Reimagining Tennis Essentials

Summary

Lavie Sak — Atlanta-trained coach turned entrepreneur, founder of ADV Tennis, and son of Cambodian parents — joins Lisa Stone to discuss his tennis equipment startup and the philanthropic initiative it supports. ADV Tennis began as an Amazon side hustle selling tennis dampeners in 2017 and has grown into a multi-product line (dampeners, overgrips, bamboo charcoal wristbands, the ADV Jetpack bag, a training kit bundle) built on a problem-solving philosophy: find underserved pain points in the tennis equipment market and engineer solutions. ADV is currently the best-selling tennis dampener on Amazon by revenue. Sak also describes the company’s partnership with the Cambodia Tennis Federation — donating 5% of profits to a non-profit that is building grassroots tennis from 33 total courts nationwide in 2015 toward a Davis Cup team that includes diaspora players from France and the US, plus an orphanage shoe program and travel sponsorship for 14-year-old player Ratanak.

Guest Background

Lavie Sak started tennis at 13 (late by the sport’s standards) after finding a racket at a yard sale and hitting against a wall for fun. He attended the University of Virginia — the 2022 NCAA champion — but did not play college tennis. He coached for approximately eight years at a larger Atlanta academy before transitioning into entrepreneurship. He has an engineering background that he applied to product redesign, particularly the ADV dampener’s three-size customizable feel system. He moved from Atlanta to Northern Virginia two years before this recording and has two young children, Kai (3.5) and Mila (1.5). He traveled to Cambodia in 2014 and independently shot a documentary about the country’s post-genocide tennis revival, which the Tennis Channel considered picking up. He describes giving back as the primary motivation behind running a for-profit tennis company.

Key Findings

1. Problem-Solving as the Product Development Philosophy

Sak describes his design methodology as: identify personal or widely-reported problems with existing equipment, then engineer a better solution. Examples: (1) dampeners — most are sold as logo giveaways rather than engineered for feel customization; his three-size system (Touch, Zorb, Max Zorb) gives players feel options that larger brands don’t provide; (2) the Jetpack bag — built because his drinks got hot and the bag hit his head when cycling, solved with an integrated cooler and a redesigned strap angle; (3) the bamboo charcoal wristband — absorbs sweat without retaining odor; (4) the Training Kit bundle — four items (reaction ball, jump rope, elastic band, pull rope) that coaches already recommended individually but families assembled separately at $60-70 cost, now available pre-bundled at lower combined cost.

2. The ADV Jetpack: User-Researched Bag Design

The Jetpack is described as ADV’s flagship product, designed by surveying players and coaches about unmet needs. Key features: built-in integrated cooler at the top of the bag for accessible cold drinks; ergonomic strap repositioning to prevent the bag hitting the user’s head while cycling; organizational compartments for specific items (pen pocket, clipboard slot, ball pocket); a dedicated “secret compartment” for sweaty clothes separated from dry gear. Sak describes the material as “like if denim mixed with nylon had a baby.” A future “Jetpack Light” version is in development — a smaller, backpack-style variant designed to function in both tennis and office/school settings.

3. Amazon as the Primary Distribution Channel

ADV Tennis has grown primarily through Amazon retail — benefiting from organic search traffic for commodity tennis products (dampeners, overgrips) and converting that traffic into product awareness. The Amazon-first model allowed Sak to generate capital without the marketing overhead of a direct-to-consumer website launch, then reinvest in product line expansion. He is also selling through advtennis.pro (website), with a Parenting Aces discount code available. The Amazon top-seller position for dampeners represents meaningful competitive traction against established brands (Wilson, Tourna) who use dampeners primarily as logo vehicles.

4. Cambodia Tennis: 33 Courts, One Davis Cup Team, One Grassroots Mission

Sak’s philanthropic anchor: Cambodia had only 33 total courts nationwide in 2015 and no significant domestic tennis development infrastructure after the Khmer Rouge genocide disrupted civil society. A grassroots revival driven by a domestic federation non-profit has rebuilt to the point of fielding a Davis Cup team — primarily composed of Cambodian diaspora from France and the US who returned to compete. The head coach is Brian, originally from Panama, who relocated to lead the program after coaching ATP professionals. ADV donates 5% of profits to the foundation: specifically to travel costs for Ratanak (a 14-year-old top domestic junior), shoe procurement for orphanage programs, and grassroots coaching expansion in provincial areas.

5. Ratanak as the Human Development Story

Ratanak, 14, is Cambodia’s most promising homegrown junior player — not a diaspora player with access to Western training infrastructure, but a locally-developed athlete. Sak describes him as “super tiny” (nutrition challenges are a factor), competing locally with success but facing significant gaps when traveling to Southeast Asian regional tournaments (a recent Malaysia trip produced losses but valuable competitive experience). Sak’s framing mirrors the episode’s broader development philosophy: a tough loss against a better player does more development good than an easy win; Ratanak’s trajectory is about closing the competitive exposure gap, not manufacturing results.

6. The “5% Specific” Philanthropy Model

Sak explicitly rejects blanket donations — “I don’t want to just give a general donation” — in favor of direct, purpose-specific giving tied to traceable outcomes: Ratanak’s travel costs, orphanage shoe inventory, and coaching infrastructure. This specificity is both a values statement and a donor accountability model. As ADV’s revenue grows, the 5% scales — creating a natural alignment between business success and program impact. He has also done work with ATAF (Atlanta Tennis and Fitness) and Haiti.

Actionable Advice for Families

• When purchasing commodity tennis equipment (dampeners, overgrips), look beyond brand recognition — smaller companies like ADV solving specific problems may outperform branded products on function even at similar or slightly higher price points
• The ADV Training Kit bundle (reaction ball, jump rope, elastic band, pull rope) is a single purchase that replaces four separate Amazon orders for standard junior warm-up and conditioning tools
• The integrated cooler in the Jetpack bag solves a genuine hydration management problem for tournament days where maintaining cold drinks is part of match-day energy management
• Use the advtennis.pro website and the Parenting Aces discount code for bundle pricing on the Jetpack plus subscription package

INTENNSE Relevance

• Equipment partner opportunity: ADV Tennis’s problem-solving product philosophy and existing tennis market presence make it a candidate equipment partner for INTENNSE; the brand alignment (innovation-focused, player-welfare-oriented, non-traditional) maps to INTENNSE’s identity
• Social impact narrative: Sak’s Cambodia tennis philanthropy represents the kind of player and founder story that INTENNSE’s broadcast and community programming can amplify — tennis as a vehicle for global development is an audience-expanding narrative that extends beyond the existing tennis fan base
• Atlanta coaching network: Sak coached eight years in Atlanta — INTENNSE’s primary market — and maintains relationships in the Atlanta tennis community; his coaching network and product distribution through Atlanta academies creates a channel connection
• Bag as media asset: If INTENNSE develops branded equipment partnerships, the bag category (practice bag, tournament bag) is the most visible equipment item in broadcast coverage — a branded partnership with ADV’s Jetpack visible in team bench areas creates organic broadcast placement
• Orphanage shoes / grassroots investment: INTENNSE’s community investment model in its 10 markets could incorporate a youth tennis development component similar to ADV’s Cambodia model — providing equipment grants to under-resourced programs builds long-term fan and player pipelines

Notable Quotes

“I wanted to take what’s out there and make it better, giving it a more innovative twist. We’re in the tennis world — there are all these weird small problems that aren’t being addressed by some of the bigger companies.”

“I reached out to my network of tennis friends and family, and the biggest problems people faced were specific organization, keeping drinks cold, and not wanting stinky clothes to get the whole bag stinky.”

“Cambodia in 2015 had 33 courts. I used to coach in facilities that had more than 33 courts on their own.”

“Five grand there is much, much more than five grand in the U.S. It gets them a lot farther.”

“A really tough loss to a really good player can do you much better than a really easy win against someone you’re older than or just a bit better than.”