AI Takes the Mic: Wimbledon Introduces AI Commentary

The prestigious Wimbledon tennis tournament kicked off on Monday, but this year, there’s a new champion stealing the spotlight: artificial intelligence.

AI is revolutionizing the broadcast coverage with its debut as a commentator.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club has unveiled an AI-powered commentary feature for Wimbledon, available on the tournament’s app and website. In order to produce real-time commentary, IBM’s AI platform called Watson analyses player positioning, shot types, and ball tracking data, takes center stage.

The All England Club and IBM iX experts collaborated to train the AI model with the language of tennis, producing an interesting and educational narration with a wide range of vocabulary and sentence patterns.

Viewers will be able to toggle the AI commentary on or off in the post-match highlights on Wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon app.

For those who prefer the natural sounds of the game, such as the racket hitting the ball and the cheers from the crowd, the option to turn off the AI commentary is available.

This isn’t the first time AI has taken on a role in sports commentary. In April, The US Masters golf event incorporated AI commentary giving it a novel touch.

Additionally, Wimbledon has introduced a new AI draw analysis feature. Each player’s route to the singles draw final is determined by a statistic that is calculated by this AI-powered tool.

By considering factors like potential opponents and player positions, fans gain valuable insights beyond traditional player rankings.

With AI at its side, Wimbledon is embracing innovation and providing tennis enthusiasts with an enhanced viewing experience filled with both technological advancements and exciting surprises in the tournament’s draws.