By integrating fragmented tennis services, Ball Box is building a new closed-loop for sports consumption.
The number of tennis enthusiasts in China has increased by over 28% in three years, and the consumption scale has exceeded 30 billion yuan. In first-tier cities, the booking volume of indoor tennis courts has tripled in three years. Behind the booming market, however, there has been a long - term absence of digital basic services in the industry: tennis lovers need to switch between multiple mini - programs to book courts, it's difficult to match players of similar real - world levels when arranging matches, and there is a lack of vertical communities for content sharing. Meanwhile, a large number of small and medium - sized courts and independent coaches still rely on manual management, resulting in low operational efficiency. The inefficient connection and fragmented experience between supply and demand constitute the core bottleneck for the upgrading of tennis consumption.
In March 2026, the tennis vertical digital platform "Ball Box" created by Dongying Wuxian (Chengdu) Information Technology Co., Ltd. was officially launched. The project aims to systematically integrate the scattered resources in the tennis field and build digital industry infrastructure through a comprehensive application that integrates booking, social interaction, evaluation, and services.
The Tennis Service Market with Mismatched Supply and Demand
The core contradiction in the current tennis service market lies in the fact that the rapidly growing user demand with strong consumption willingness cannot be effectively connected with the backward and fragmented supply model. For enthusiasts, the entire process of participating in tennis is fragmented across different platforms. They need to remember different booking portals for different courts, spend time looking for playing partners of similar levels in social media groups, and their sports content sharing is scattered across various general - purpose social platforms. This fragmented experience seriously hinders the formation of sports communities and the cultivation of user loyalty.
On the other hand, the digital operation level of most commercial tennis venues and independent coaches, as the service providers, is generally low. Many venues still use traditional methods such as phone calls and WeChat group sign - ups for reservation management, which leads to the ineffective precipitation and utilization of venue inventory and user data, and it's difficult to activate idle resources. Independent coaches face the problems of insufficient personal brand display, single customer - acquisition channels, and high costs. The industry lacks a public platform that can simultaneously improve the efficiency and experience of both the supply and demand sides.
The creation of the "Ball Box" project stems from the core team's personal experience of these pain points. Wang Lisheng, the technical leader, has a background as a software engineer at Amazon and is also a deep - rooted tennis enthusiast who has organized over a hundred free tennis teaching sessions. He has personally experienced the trouble of switching between dozens of different channels to book courts and the uncertainty of arranging matches. This prompted him to join forces with other partners from the fields of finance, law, and business operation to officially launch the project in November 2025, with the goal of creating a "digital operating system for the tennis field".
How the Integrated Platform Re - shapes the Experience
The solution of "Ball Box" is to build an integrated platform that connects users (C - end) and service providers (B - end). Its core innovation lies in trying to systematically solve the above - mentioned pain points through product design and technology application.
On the user side, the App integrates multiple core functions. To address the problem of "difficulty in finding courts", the platform accesses the real - time inventory of more than 200 mainstream commercial courts in Chengdu and Chongqing, enabling one - screen screening and one - click booking and payment. To solve the long - standing problems of "trust in arranging matches" and level matching in the industry, "Ball Box" has launched a key "tennis ID" - the star card system. Users' match records and mutual evaluations from coaches and playing partners will be stored here, forming a real - level credential that can be used across regions and scenarios, aiming to eliminate information asymmetry in arranging matches.
On the supply side, the platform helps courts achieve online and standardized management through the "Ball Box Merchant Version" SaaS system. At the same time, the platform conducts unified qualification reviews for coaches who join and provides structured information display to establish a transparent coach evaluation system and improve the information environment in the service market. In response to the growing demand for off - site tennis, the "Tennis Travel Camp" section, which will be launched next month, attempts to standardize non - standard tennis travel and training products and conduct user level verification based on the star card system to reduce the decision - making risk of high - price products.
In terms of technical implementation and product evolution path, the project is based on a scalable microservice architecture and has a clear plan for function iteration stages. After the core functions of court booking, match arrangement, and community building, the platform will focus on launching tennis - themed tourism products, integrating venues, accommodation, and local tennis activities to create standardized travel and training services. At the same time, the tennis vertical e - commerce module will also be launched to provide users with equipment selection and evaluation content. In addition, the platform will further deepen the intelligent matching system, not only for arranging matches but also for automatically recommending suitable coaches or courses according to users' levels, styles, and goals, continuously improving the connection efficiency and user experience. These extended functions aim to build a more complete service closed - loop around tennis and continuously optimize the matching algorithm through data accumulation to build a service ecological barrier.
The Evolution Path from Tool to Ecosystem
"Ball Box" follows a clear development path of "starting with connection, succeeding with incentives, and ending with an ecosystem". Currently in the 1.0 stage, its core is to serve as a "connection tool" to connect venues, coaches, players, and content and complete the construction of the underlying infrastructure of the ecosystem. In the next stage, the platform plans to introduce a tournament system and a more complete NTRP mutual evaluation system, activate the community through honor and credit mechanisms, and empower partners with tools such as dynamic pricing to improve venue utilization efficiency and achieve value co - creation.
Its business model evolves in tandem with this path. Currently, the core revenue comes from transaction commissions and SaaS value - added services, which has verified the basic monetization ability. In the future, with the establishment of the platform's credit system and activity, diversified ecological revenues such as tournament service fees, targeted marketing, revenue sharing from tennis travel products, and potential membership subscriptions will become new growth engines.
The team has a background that combines cross - field business capabilities and in - depth industry empathy. The core members include a former Amazon software engineer, a former securities company sponsor representative, a former commercial real estate manager, and a former law firm partner, and they are all senior tennis enthusiasts with over ten years of playing experience. This combination of "top - notch industry execution ability + in - depth field insight" is an important foundation for the project's advancement.
Currently, "Ball Box" has completed the product launch from scratch and has initially verified the SaaS cooperation model with venues such as "Lanyue Tennis" in Chengdu. Early user feedback shows that its "one - stop" experience and the "star card" system have effectively reduced the decision - making cost of court booking and match arrangement. The project team said that in the next stage, they will use the Sichuan - Chongqing region as a sample to replicate the model to popular tennis cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, expanding the user base while continuously promoting its long - term vision of evolving from a tool to an ecosystem.