Tennis fans will be able to instantly catch up on the latest from this year's Wimbledon 2024 tennis championships thanks to a new AI-powered tool.
Tournament organisers, the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), have unveiled their new Catch Me Up tool, powered by IBM's Watsonx generative AI platform, in a bid to bring fans closer to every match, even if they are not in the tournament.
Catch Me Up uses Watsonx generative AI to create player-based updates in the form of “cards” available on the Wimbledon.com website or mobile app, providing brief feedback on their progress through the championship, which begins on 1 of July.
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Speaking at a press conference ahead of this year's tournament attended by TechRadar ProChris Clements, digital product leader at AELTC, noted that 650 million fans around the world interact with Wimbledon in some way during the tournament.
However, some of the most interesting or least publicized stories often go unnoticed, especially during the first few days of the tournament when there is simply so much action happening.
Kevin Farrar, director of sports partnerships at IBM UK, explained that the model is able to incorporate data from trusted “structured” tournaments alongside external “unstructured” sources (i.e. analytics site Sportsradar) to learn and provide insights. most accurate summaries possible.
He added that the launch should help draw attention or focus on some of the lesser-known players, especially in competitions such as youth or wheelchair tournaments, which typically begin once the higher-profile draws have reached their own stages. later.
To give it that extra special touch, Clements noted that the model used for Catch Me Up has been specially trained on Wimbledon's tone of voice (for example, making sure draws are indicated as “Gentlemen” and “Ladies” instead of men and women). as is the case in other important openings).
The launch comes as IBM publishes new research showing that the majority of tennis fans believe technologies such as generative AI will have a positive effect on the sport.
The survey of more than 18,000 fans found that more than half (55%) thought the technology would bring benefits, and 75% said they believed it would have a positive impact on areas such as game strategy, training and identification. and talent acquisition.
