This year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships are going to be the smartest and most data-heavy for an ongoing partnership with IBM.
The computing giant has unveiled its latest range of upgrades and smart features as part of its work with tournament organizer, All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC).
This year’s new additions include a boosted fan prediction feature, an upgraded IBM power indicator that could help unveil next-generation champions, and improved match insights powered by IBM’s Watson AI system.
Wimbledon 2022 Invention
Alexandra Willis, AELTC’s director of communications and marketing, said: “We are excited about this year, but naturally we can’t just think about the past – we have to look to the future at the same time … the world is changing around us And change. “
“We are very proud to have this innovation program in partnership with IBM and we often talk about the role of innovation in preserving Wimbledon’s heritage and making it relevant for the future. It’s not about combining tradition and innovation – it’s about working in partnership. “
Not only tennis, but perhaps one of the most iconic events in all sports, Wimbledon attracts a wide variety of fans with different levels of knowledge, so it is vital to provide an entry point through the Wimbledon.com website and official mobile app.
Offering a fan experience that has created a challenge for everyone from casual observers to Wimbledon viewers to data-hungry expert Die-Hards, but AELTC and IBM now think it can win.
This year’s championships see an expansion of the IBM Power Index, a statistics and data platform powered by IBM Watson that fuels websites and apps to offer fans a world of insight.
In addition to point-by-point analysis of each game throughout the tournament, its Match Insights tool has been developed by “Win Factors”, a much easier way to explain to fans why a player is doing well. Using IBM Watson Discovery and IBM Cloud, the tool can collect information such as forms, head-to-head combat, ATP / WTA rankings and natural language processing (NLP), and even recent media coverage thanks to offering more fan-friendly information. To help spot more or no potential disaster.
Fans will also now be able to discuss their new icon and discuss the “Have Your Say” fan prediction feature on the official Wimbledon app. This will give fans the opportunity to predict the outcome of any match, and then compare the scene with other fans around the world, as well as AI-powered “chances of winning” predictions produced by IBM Watson.
Entering its 33rd year as a partner, this year’s championships are more technologically advanced than ever before, thanks in large part to IBM’s “Innovation Platform”, noted Kevin Farrer, Sports Partnership Leader, IBM UK and Ireland.
“It’s much more about collaborating and co-creating content to bring the beauty and drama of the championship to life for tennis fans around the world,” he said.
“It’s very much about taking in a lot of data, creating insights that are fascinating and engaging to bring in new fans, and making sure fans who are already involved with the platform stay with us.”
“This is a great showcase for IBM’s power … at the heart of the data.”
