Catching up with Redfoo: Talking Timeball, supporting Peyton Stearns in Miami and more

MIAMI, Fla.— With his signature curly hair and glasses, Redfoo is hard to miss as he walks among the crowd of tennis fans at the Miami Open presented by Itau. And this week, he’s been turning heads for a completely different reason.

While he’s best known as one-half of the musical group LMFAO, whose hits Party Rock Anthem, Shots and I’m In Miami Bitch were emblematic of the 2008-2012 music scene, Redfoo has long been a familiar face at tennis tournaments too. From being the title sponsor of the ITF $50K Party Rock Open back in 2012 and 2013, to coaching the World Team Tennis’ Las Vegas Rollers, to dating former WTA world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, the musician’s tennis connections run deep.

Now, he’s hoping to bring new energy to the game through Timeball, his new time-based tennis game which blends competition and socializing that’s been catching on like wildfire.

“There’s some tennis players who love pickleball and play it, and others who are like, we’re tennis only. In some ways this is bridging that gap, because it’s bringing to tennis what makes pickleball so popular,” Redfoo tells Baseline in an exclusive interview.

“It’s a community-builder, we think of it as a Timeball Social Club.”

We sat down with Redfoo and co-founder Ransom Braaten to learn more about Timeball, why they're supporting Peyton Stearns in Indian Wells and Miami, and more:

It’s great to see Redfoo back at the tennis! You’ve got a new tennis project called Timeball. First of all, what is Timeball?

REDFOO: Timeball is the ultimate social, fun tennis game where you can comfortably get up to eight players on a court and you're all competing and playing. The difference here is that the ball never stops—the point keeps going and going, so you’re also getting a workout in.

How does the game work? You’re keeping time instead of counting points?

REDFOO: So the person who conducts it is the Timekeeper—basically, the feeder who is feeding in the balls. There’s a Challenger side and there’s a Champs side.

And here’s the catch: When you’re on the Champs side, you’re accruing time on your “clock”. Everyone has their own clock that starts at zero, and when you get on the Champs side, that clock is running. Whoever has the most time after an hour and a half—or however long you chose to play—that’s the winner.

If the Challengers win three points before the Champs win two points, they switch over to the Champs side. They get to play more because they’re over there, and the rest of the players on the Challengers side are rotating in and out, playing as teams to get on their side.

WATCH: How to play Timeball up close with Redfoo

For the fans who might not be aware of your background… What brought you guys into tennis, and where did the idea for Timeball come from?

REDFOO: I actually played juniors, so I’ve been playing since the Bryan brothers, Jason Cook, all those guys. The Bryan brothers were a year younger than me, but they were higher ranked than me. They were 1 and 2, and I was like, somewhere like No. 40 in the state. I was up there!

Eventually I got into music, but I never forgot about my forehand. I never forgot about the serve.

RANSOM: I grew up playing tennis. I come from a tennis family: My grandpa played tennis and my dad played tennis—both at the collegiate level. I started when I was four and played all the way through college (at California Lutheran University).

When I got out of college, I met Redfoo while playing a game which was basically just a drill. There was no time, no competition. We're both competitive people and so we were like, 'Hey, let's add a score to this game.' And so we developed an app and it’s evolved to what it is now. We’re hoping to bring it to a global scale.

Wait, you guys coded the Timeball app yourselves too?

REDFOO: Yes! As I retired from music, basically I became a coder in the last six or seven years.

We built everything, and we’re still coding and adding features, like a bunch of stats, eventually we’re going to add Calories burned and all that. But we have leaderboards, it’s tracking your times and how you stack up against everyone and also against your friends…

At first it was all Ransom, who had a whole drawer full of stop watches and clocks and all that. And he was like, 'Hey man, can you code something for this?' And in two days, I made a little demo and it was working. Totally changed the game.

The app is currently in beta (TestFlight) mode and it’s only for iOS right now, but we’ll have an Android version soon. And we’re working on a player’s app too, to do an even deeper dive into the stats.

I know you’ve been doing demos of Timeball here and at Indian Wells. What’s the reception been like?

REDFOO: We found it’s catching on a lot at the club level. There’s some tennis players, for example, who love pickleball and play it, and others who are like, 'we’re tennis only.' In some ways this is bridging that gap, because it’s bringing to tennis what makes pickleball so popular.

There’s no serve, it’s the Timekeepers who are feeding the ball, so you can play with guys who have different skill levels and still feel like it’s super competitive. It’s got the social aspect too because while doubles is four players, this is up to eight players and you’re always meeting someone new. It’s a community-builder, we think of it as a Timeball Social Club. That’s the magic of it…

And it’s a great practice, too, for high-level players. We had the Emory College women’s tennis team come over and try it out—I have a court at my house—and their coaches were all saying they'd never seen them practicing at such a high level… They were like, 'How can we get the app so we can train with the players?'

Tennis brands can also use it for activations, too. Like Solinco, for example, they were using it at Indian Wells to demo their racquets. We had like 70 players come through, and they were like, 'This is one of the best racquet demos we’ve ever had.'

Sounds like it’s been very successful so far. Are you planning to take this to other big tournaments in the States? Where will we be seeing you next?

REDFOO: Probably we’ll be at the US Open next, maybe Cincinnati and possibly Roland Garros. We have some plans to travel Europe, so we might as well stop by the French! We’ve been invited to a few places, and it all depends if there’s natural synergy there or if the buzz is there.

We’ve been talking to Peyton (Stearns) and her team, and everybody is liking that vibe there. We were in the box when she played Aryna Sabalenka (at Indian Wells), so she’s getting the Timeball energy. I know she’s playing the clay swing too, so we’ll see!

Speaking of Peyton, we saw you supporting her here in Miami too. What’s the connection there? How did you two meet?

REDFOO: We actually met at Indian Wells for the first time. Her coach knew a mutual friend of ours, and they reached out and said, “Would Redfoo be interested in sitting with the team in the box and doing his thing? You know, just to support Peyton.” And I said, “Yeah!”

So we went for her first match, and me and Coach Eric (Hechtman) hit it off. He was coaching her and I’m there, and it’s like one big support group. And then after she played against Sabalenka, they invited me back. They liked the ‘Foo energy!

WATCH: Redfoo cheers on Peyton Stearns vs ex-girlfriend Victoria Azarenka at 2024 Miami Open

We definitely saw you on your feet, super vocal after every point…

REDFOO: Right! And sometimes it works. Sometimes the player is like, 'No, that's too much.' But Peyton comes from the college tennis world, she’s used to a rowdy support box—she’s kind of like (Ben) Shelton, who’s used to all this noise.

And I am too, because I live near Pepperdine (University). Ransom and I, when we go to those matches we’re just shouting and yelling, “Let’s go, let’s gooo!”

I think in tennis, every match that we’ve been to has been electric, where normally I don’t think it would be. But because I’m like, “Let’s go P! Let’s go Peyton!” whoever is rooting for the other player, well now they’re getting hype too. So then we’re all hype!

I can feel, like, this electricity. And I think it's making all players play better, because we're getting in the zone.

And so you’re not about rooting against anyone, then?

REDFOO: Exactly, it’s all respectful. That’s what I want to make a point about too, it’s just support. Just like any other team member—it’s not against anyone, it’s all just for Peyton, for example.

Now that they made coaching okay—which I think was a great move—it makes things more interactive and it lets the teams get involved too. I don’t know if they’re going to start miking up the coaches too, but I think it just makes for a more entertaining situation.

But no, it’s been really fun. I’ve had a blast.