Wimbledon is a unique event in the British sporting calendar.
In many cases, spectatorsdont even know most of the players names.
Their main attraction to the championship isa summers day indulging in the traditions of a national institution.
Wimbledons organizers want to turn these casual fans into lifelong devotees.
To make this happen, theyve applied an ultra-modern science to the worldsoldest tennis tournament:AI.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club works with IBM to bring the tech to the masses.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
It all starts with the data,Kevin Farrar, IBMs UK sports partnerships leader, told TNW.
All of them are high-level tennis players.
Rather than teach AI experts about the sport, IBM trains athletes on the basics of data science.
They are county level and above tennis players because they have to interpret the game, said Farrar.
How do you decide between a forced and unforced error?
It helps if you play the game.
Algorithmsthen turn the data into digital features, which fans can access on the Wimbledon app.
A Centre Court debut to remember for@EmmaRaducanu?
IBMs Match Insights crunches the numbers ahead of Raducanu ?
A predictive model then identifies their likelihood of winning each match.
This success, however, isnt matched on the smaller courts,.
Fans can also input their own predictions, access customized recommendations, and watch personalized highlight reels.
The tournaments center court just celebrated a century of play.
AI could help attract fans to the hallowed grass for the next 100 years.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
