Where exactly should I put my phone to record tennis?

Centered behind one baseline, 2–3 metres back from the fence line, raised 2–3 metres if you can (fence mount or tripod), phone in landscape, with both baselines and both sidelines visible in frame.

Why shouldn't I record from the corner of the court?

A corner view compresses one half of the court and hides depth. Court-line detection, bounce mapping, and speed estimates all degrade badly, and some shots on the far side become untrackable. Always shoot from behind the middle of the baseline, never diagonally.

Does the camera need to be high up?

Higher is better but not mandatory. Chest height on a tripod works; 2–3 metres (fence mount) noticeably improves bounce placement because the court plane is less foreshortened.

Portrait or landscape?

Landscape, always. Portrait crops out the sidelines, and shots landing wide leave the frame.

Do phone mounts work on chain-link fences?

Yes. A cheap clamp-style fence mount is the single best upgrade. It gets the phone high, stable, and behind the court without a person holding it.

Where to Put Your Phone: The Tennis Camera Setup Guide

Exact height, distance, and angle to record tennis for AI analysis. Side-on from behind the baseline, phone landscape, whole court in frame, and why corners ruin tracking.

Camera placement is the single biggest lever on analysis quality, more than phone model, more than resolution. Two minutes of setup decides whether every bounce lands on the map or half your forehands disappear.

The short version: corners are wrong, sidelines are wrong, behind the baseline is right.

The one rule that matters most

Do not record from the corners. A diagonal view looks natural to a human but is the worst case for computer vision: it compresses one half of the court, hides depth along the diagonal, and makes the court's straight lines converge in ways that break line detection. Bounce positions drift, speeds read low, and far-side shots can become untrackable.

Stand behind the middle of the baseline instead. The court should look symmetric in the frame: left and right sidelines equally visible, the net running horizontally across the middle.

The setup, step by step

Position: centered behind one baseline, 2–3 m back from the court (behind the fence is perfect).
Height: as high as you can manage. Fence-mount or balcony at 2–3 m is ideal; a chest-height tripod still works.
Orientation: landscape. Portrait crops the sidelines and loses wide balls.
Framing: all four corners of the court in frame: both baselines, both sidelines, the net. Leave a little sky above the far baseline for lobs and serves.
Stability: mount it and leave it. No panning, no zooming, no following the ball. A static camera is exactly what the tracker wants.
Light: daytime or well-lit courts. Night footage with strong shadows is the hardest case for court detection.

Quality tiers

Setup	Result
Fence mount, 2–3 m high, centered behind baseline	Best: broadcast-like tracking
Tripod at chest height behind the baseline	Great: full analysis, slightly coarser depth
Phone leaned on a bag at court level, centered	OK: shots detected, bounce depth less precise
Corner view, side view, or hand-held panning	Poor: expect missing shots and wrong placement

The in-app tips, expanded

These are the same rules the app shows when you start a new session:

Single side-on angle. Film from behind the baseline. Avoid panning during the rally.
Sharp 1080p+. Higher resolution helps pose detection. 720p still works.
Solo or doubles. Both supported. AceSense follows the player closest to the camera.
Formats. MP4, MOV or AVI, up to 1 GB per clip.

What a great clip looks like: camera behind the baseline at chest height, court filling the frame. What breaks analysis: the camera following the ball. Pose tracking breaks when the frame moves.

The 10-second pre-record checklist

Both baselines and both sidelines visible
Phone landscape, locked on a mount or tripod
Nobody walking through the frame path
Sun not pointing into the lens
720p or higher, normal speed (no slow-mo filters)

Record the whole session in one clip if you can. The analysis finds the rallies by itself, so dead time between points costs nothing.

If you use the AceSense app to record, the same guide is built in under New Session → Camera setup.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly should I put my phone to record tennis?: Centered behind one baseline, 2–3 metres back from the fence line, raised 2–3 metres if you can (fence mount or tripod), phone in landscape, with both baselines and both sidelines visible in frame.
Why shouldn't I record from the corner of the court?: A corner view compresses one half of the court and hides depth. Court-line detection, bounce mapping, and speed estimates all degrade badly, and some shots on the far side become untrackable. Always shoot from behind the middle of the baseline, never diagonally.
Does the camera need to be high up?: Higher is better but not mandatory. Chest height on a tripod works; 2–3 metres (fence mount) noticeably improves bounce placement because the court plane is less foreshortened.
Portrait or landscape?: Landscape, always. Portrait crops out the sidelines, and shots landing wide leave the frame.
Do phone mounts work on chain-link fences?: Yes. A cheap clamp-style fence mount is the single best upgrade. It gets the phone high, stable, and behind the court without a person holding it.