Match point for Artificial Intelligence at Wimbledon

The collaboration between the All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM, which has lasted for thirty years, was reconfirmed this year on the occasion of the legendary Wimbledon Tournament, where Artificial Intelligence also took to the field.
How is’t possible to make a tennis tournament unique in the world, traditional and legendary like Wimbledon, the goal most sought after by every professional player? Simple: using advanced technologies! In fact, if Wimbledon is a bastion of tradition and never changes, the same cannot be said of technology, which instead evolves at great speed. The collaboration between All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM has been based on the union between the Wimbledon tradition and the most advanced technologies.
For the 2019 edition Artificial Intelligence and Cloud took to the field, with the aim of favoring more efficient processes, richer and more engaging experiences and to guarantee conditions of maximum safety and protection during the three weeks of competition.
Among the novelties for 2019 there are the videos of the highlights made automatically thanks to the AI, available to the fans. Not all the highlights during a tennis match are the same, for example a much loved player, followed by very passionate fans, can generate more emotion than an opponent with the same skills, but accompanied by a more reserved audience.

The Watson learning system has been taught to better recognize the players’ acoustics, emotions and expressions. Thanks to the sound analysis of Watson Acoustics, the system is able to understand when the ball is hit, allowing the shooting of closer highlights, saving valuable time and making the most of every second of shooting. Furthermore, using Watson Open Scale, the system is able to recognize the noise levels and the excitement level of the players, searching for the highlights of the athletes who prove to be particularly lively on the pitch or who can count on a particularly passionate support.
These solutions not only facilitate the work of the judges of the competition, but also allow the video to be edited in a few moments, quickly selecting the highlights of each match. Among the innovations for 2019, also the development by IBM of a web application able to reach the public that is in areas with lower bandwidth, with less advanced mobile devices. In India, for example, Wimbledon is particularly appreciated: thanks to the new web app, over 900 million Indian fans can easily follow the challenges that enthrall them, always keeping up to date on the results.
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