Live Tennis Rankings review: the best app for tennis lovers?

What’s the first app tennis lovers should install? That’s easy: the totally unglamorous Live Tennis Rankings (LTR to its friends).

As a tennis nerd, I love it for three reasons.

15-0: It does, indeed, tell you live tennis rankings

You know all those BBC stories saying “Konta will rise to record high ranking next week”? Well, if you have LTR installed then you know that already.

Indeed, you know exactly how many points any player can reach if he or she wins the next round and the tournament they’re in.

Just click on the hamburger menu, select ATP Singles Ranking or WTA Singles Ranking, and you’ll see where each player stands right now (a light green background shows they’re playing in a current tournament).

Here, Gael Monfils is playing at Umag and in the round of 16 – if he wins his next match, he’ll reach 2,320 points, and if he wins the tournament he can hit 2,525. That would push him up to 15^th in the rankings.

30-0: You can see live scores

There are several apps that give you the latest scores, but why bother installing another when LTR gives you the information you need?

Head down to the Live Scores in the Other section of its menu, hit the LIVE tab, and you can see every ATP, WTA, Challenger and ITF match happening at that moment (and the Davis Cup… not that we Brits care about such things anymore).

The updates are instant (I was at Eastbourne and the scores updated as quickly as the scoreboard) and you can even click through to live streams on betting websites if the match is being shown.

40-0: It’s so much better than the official sites

Although I understand the reasoning behind it, from a tennis fan’s point of view it’s annoying that the WTA and ATP have separate websites. If I want to check the Singles Race on the official sites or apps then it’s two journeys – here, I can jump straight from one to another.

Yes, the interface takes a little getting used to, but once you understand LTR’s idiosyncrasies – for example, the <18 at the top lets you filter just the players who are under 18 – it’s simple to navigate.

 

Let’s say you want to see where your favourite player is next due to play: simply select ATP or WTA Singles Schedule from the main menu. So, above, I can see instantly that Andy Murray is down to play Montreal and Cincinnati.

And it isn’t just about the top players. Rankings go all the way down to 1,000, so I can see what world number 525 Marcus Willis is up to over the next few weeks, if I so wish (not a lot, it turns out).

Game, set & match: Is LTR perfect?

No. The ads are a little annoying, and the price of £8.99 to remove them for a year is way too expensive.

Its interface also takes a little getting used to. For instance, until I published this review and heard back from the developer, I was unaware that you can filter for GB players: first head to Settings, then select your favourite nation(s). That nation’s players will then be highlighted in blue, making it easier to spot them when you’re scrolling through that 1,000-strong list, and the option to filter for players by that nation will appear next to the list of ages.

It would also be nice to click on a player’s name and see their biog, as you can on the main ATP and WTA sites.

But hey, this is a free app that does an astonishing amount. Install it now; if you’re anywhere near the tennis nerd I am, you won’t regret it.

UPDATE: This review was updated on 21 July to mention the fact you can filter players by nation.