IBM Watson will be employed to help tennis players and their coaches better prepare for matches, as well as expanding the AI services available to tennis fans at the US Open this year.
IBM has been working closely with the US Tennis Association (USTA) Player Development's performance team for the last year, refining the technology to help coaches and players better prepare for matches in an efficient manner and enhance their strategy against competitors.
It's the same technology used by the USTA's US Open Digital Team to offer real-time engaging content to tennis fans, reviewing hours of player footage, identifying every volley and how it could impact performance. Coaches can access these insights at any time, using the information to plan the approach a player should take in each match.
"Coaches and tennis players look to video as a useful resource that helps to evaluate players and develop scouting reports before and during tournaments," Martin Blackman, general manager of USTA Player Development said. "Working with IBM enables us to process and index video using AI to free up valuable intellectual capital that we can re-allocate to more interpretive and customized analysis."
He added using IBM Watson solves the time-intensive process of analysing each and every match a player takes part in and with its video tagging technology, they can be easily referenced and surfaced when needed.
"We are excited that working together with IBM we can create a new solution that will revolutionize our ability to pair analytics with coaching expertise to drive performance," he added.
IBM Watson will also be used during the tournament to provide enthralling experiences for tennis fans, with this year's highlights an AI-powered dashboard that displays the best parts of each match by excitement level. And the AI Highlight Builder will aid the US Open Digital Team to quickly create a highlights video for any match played during the tournament.
