Summary

Charles Allen (INTENNSE CEO) and Yannick Yoshizawa (INTENNSE VP/co-creator) appear on ParentingAces to introduce Time Tennis to the junior tennis community ahead of the inaugural season. They present the comprehensive vision for a time-bound, team-based professional tennis league launching in Atlanta, covering the format (30-minute matches with two 15-minute halves), the league structure (teams of equal men and women, salaried players, year-round coaching), and the rationale for rethinking tennis from top to bottom. Lisa Stone receives the concept enthusiastically, asking pointed questions about junior relevance, the relationship with existing tennis structures, and player eligibility. The episode was recorded shortly after a successful pilot at the Atlanta Open, where the concept resonated strongly with juniors, parents, facility operators, and tennis insiders including Patricia Jensen (longtime Atlanta Open ball kid coordinator and tennis parent extraordinaire).

Guest Background

Charles Allen — INTENNSE CEO. Accidental second career in tennis after Silicon Valley. Started with data visualization while living in Croatia, built an open-source tournament management system now processing all USTA and ITA tournaments, consulted with the ITF on tennis open data standards and the World Tennis Number development. Met Time Tennis founder Felix Lucas while in Croatia; Felix has run 70+ tournaments and owns a WTA event. Charles has been in conversation with Felix for 5+ years on creating a healthier tennis ecosystem.

Yannick Yoshizawa — INTENNSE VP. Brazilian background. Previously worked at the WTA and at Sense Arena (VR tennis technology). Has known Felix Lucas for approximately 10 years, since meeting him during his time at the WTA. Has been working with Felix for 6-7 years on the Time Tennis concept, which evolved significantly during COVID.

Key Topics

Format Innovation: Time-Bound Tennis

• 30-minute matches with two 15-minute halves, 2-minute halftime show
• One serve, no let, server continues until losing the point, returner must be ready
• Active play increases from ~20% in traditional tennis to ~60% in Time Tennis
• Players report that 30 minutes feels like playing a three-set match
• No chair umpire; automatic line calling with no video review; referee walks the court like basketball
• Each team gets one timeout per half; substitutions allowed (eliminates retirements, walkovers, cancellations)

League Structure

• Professional team league launching in Atlanta as first hub
• Season: May through October (6 months)
• Six “Rush” events (3-day events on a single court), six “on the road” events, plus “Dare” events challenging local communities
• Teams: 4 initially, expanding to 6; equal men and women (2+2, expanding to 3+3)
• Three parallel events per session: men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles
• F1-style scoring: individual points accumulate for team standings
• Sessions are ~2.5 hours with 3 matches; consistent, predictable product

Player Model: Salaried Entrepreneurs

• Players hired on full-time salary with prize money upside
• Year-round coaching and benefits included
• Players are not just athletes — hired for entrepreneurial drive, fan engagement, community passion
• Players work in the local community: running events, hitting with local players, engaging fans
• “Making local stars” — investing in players as people and public figures
• Draft out of college; combine and draft at first event in November

The Atlanta Open Moment

• Nine days at the Atlanta Open talking to the public
• A 12-year-old boy (top 100 in age group nationally) came home and told his father: “Dad, this is the tennis I want to play” — he had been considering leaving tennis due to ratings pressure
• Ball kids sought out the Time Tennis tent specifically to learn about it
• The boy’s father connected Charles with Patricia Jensen, who runs ball kids for the Atlanta Open and Georgia Tech tennis; she spent 90 minutes discussing how Time Tennis resonates with what she has witnessed in tennis
• Facility operators asked “when can I run an event at my facility?”
• Amateurs and juniors asked “when can I play this?”

Fan Experience Problem

• Average tennis fan age reportedly 61 (men) / 55 (women)
• Tennis has tennis fans but not sports fans
• Traditional tennis creates friction for casual fans: quiet rules, complex scoring, unpredictable match length
• Other sports innovating (LIV Golf, Kings League soccer, Big3 basketball) while tennis has not fundamentally changed since lawn tennis in the 1800s

Junior and Amateur Relevance

• Prize money events for juniors and amateurs planned
• ~2 local events per month during the season
• Fan court at Rush events for public to try Time Tennis
• Technology: IonCourt partnership for referee interface, scoring, and timekeeping
• Event efficiency: 58 matches in 8 hours on 5 courts vs. 57 matches across 10 days at a traditional tournament (Croatia comparison)

Relationship with Existing Ecosystem

• Not oppositional to current tennis; complementary
• Multiple governing bodies have reached out expressing interest
• Hybrid approach working within existing structures
• Goal: bring new fans, improve player health, make courts more efficient

Actionable Advice for Families

• For juniors feeling ratings pressure: Time Tennis offers an alternative way to engage with competitive tennis that removes some of the anxiety around individual rankings and ratings
• For families wanting team environments: The team structure addresses the isolation many junior players feel, offering the camaraderie of team sports within tennis
• For aspiring college players: Time Tennis plans to draft directly from college, creating a viable post-college pathway that does not require the financial burden of the traditional pro tour
• For tournament directors and facility operators: Reach out to Time Tennis about hosting local events; the format dramatically increases court utilization and creates predictable scheduling
• For anyone interested: Watch the video version of the episode to see Time Tennis in action; visit the Time Tennis website for player applications

INTENNSE Relevance

This episode is foundational INTENNSE content — it is the CEO and VP presenting the league concept to one of the most influential junior tennis podcast audiences before the first season. Key strategic elements surfaced:

1. Origin story documented: Charles’s path from data visualization in Croatia through ITF consulting to Time Tennis; Yannick’s WTA-to-Sense Arena-to-Time Tennis trajectory; Felix Lucas as founder with 70+ tournaments and WTA event ownership
2. Value proposition crystallized: The “12-year-old boy” anecdote is a powerful proof point for Time Tennis solving the junior attrition problem caused by ratings pressure
3. Atlanta-first strategy articulated: Explicit choice of Atlanta as launch hub due to largest tennis city claim (~70,000 ALTA members), broad skill range, existing team tennis culture
4. Player welfare thesis: Salaried players with quality of life, house plants, pets, relationships — directly contrasting with “The Racket” (book about the other 99% of pro tennis)
5. Dave Fish philosophy invoked: Charles references the Harvard coach’s advice “make the place you are the place you want to be” — framing Time Tennis as a destination, not a stepping stone
6. Todd Wachowski connection: Case Western Reserve coach referenced as embodying the build-where-you-are philosophy
7. Patricia Jensen validation: Her 90-minute engagement represents endorsement from deep Atlanta tennis royalty (French Open doubles winner family, Georgia Tech ball kid program)
8. Lisa Stone reception: Enthusiastic, asking about junior leagues, inviting them to bring events to SoCal — strong distribution channel validation

Notable Quotes

“My son came home on Friday evening and showed me this card and said, ‘Dad, this is the tennis I want to play.’” — Charles Allen, recounting the father of a top-100 12-year-old at the Atlanta Open

“We’re not hiring them just to be players. And we’re not hiring them just for their athletic prowess. We’re hiring them for their entrepreneurial drive, for their passion for interacting with the fans, for their passion for transforming the sport.” — Charles Allen, on the Time Tennis player model

“We had a time tennis amateur event in eight hours, in five courts, and we had 58 matches. And we started at 9:00 AM and everyone left at 6:00 PM. Everyone knew when they were going to start, they knew when they were going to end, they knew when they could have lunch, they knew where they could have dinner.” — Yannick Yoshizawa, on event efficiency compared to traditional tournaments