WTA Pro Wang Qiang Played Tennis With a Robot at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Wang Qiang has spent her career staring across the net at some of the best tennis players in the world. At the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the opponent on the other side looked a little different.

TENNIIX unveiled its ULTRA MAX AI tennis robot at the 2026 Finals, putting the machine on court with the former world No. 12 for a demonstration of what the next generation of solo tennis training could look like.

The machine did more than fire balls from a stationary position. During the demonstration, ULTRA MAX delivered topspin, high looping balls and changing placements intended to move Wang around the court and sustain realistic patterns.  

That is the point of the technology.  

Photo credit: 江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ULTRA MAX combines the TENNIIX PRO AI tennis-training system with the TRON 2 robotic mobility platform from LimX Dynamics. The system is designed to track ball trajectory, spin and landing points while also reading player positioning and movement.

It can then adjust the next delivery based on the player's return, producing different combinations of pace, placement, topspin, slice and shorter balls.

The mobility is what makes the concept especially interesting. Rather than behaving like a conventional ball machine parked behind the baseline, the robotic platform can move in multiple directions, turn and reposition itself around the court. Its adjustable structure also changes the height from which balls are delivered.

YouTube: Florida Tennis / Source: TENNIIX

The goal is a training partner that reacts more like something on the other side of the net and less like a programmed basket of tennis balls.

TENNIIX was a Domestic Finals Partner of the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Finals, giving the young tennis-technology company a prominent stage for the demonstration alongside one of the sport's premier international team competitions.

The company says future deployments are aimed at tennis clubs and facilities, where the system could supplement coaching and give players another way to train when a suitable hitting partner is unavailable.

For coaches, clubs and serious players, that may be where the technology becomes most interesting. Ball machines have been part of tennis for decades. A machine that can watch the rally, move around the court and decide what ball to send next is something else entirely.

By Florida Tennis Staff. Sources: TENNIIX; Billie Jean King Cup

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