How Wimbledon & IBM’s Use of AI is Enhancing Fan Engagement

Professional sports organisations are increasingly deploying AI to enhance everything from administrative tasks, to enhancing fan engagement, to improving players’ technique. 

Tennis tournaments have emerged as a particular testing ground for AI-powered features, with real-time data analysis now becoming a standard expectation among audiences seeking deeper insights into player performance and match dynamics.

Gen AI especially is being adopted for more interactive experiences, as major sporting events now compete on the quality of play but also on their ability to provide personalised, data-driven content that maintains audience engagement throughout lengthy competitions.

Now in an announcement to up the competition even further, The All England Lawn Tennis Club has partnered with IBM to introduce enhanced AI-powered features for this year’s Wimbledon championships: Match Chat and Likelihood to Win.

Match Chat: The interactive tennis assistant

These applications aim to provide real-time analysis and engagement opportunities for tennis fans worldwide.

Match Chat is an interactive AI assistant that responds to fan queries during live singles matches.

Using Gen AI built on IBM’s watsonx platform, the system delivers immediate match analysis and insights.

Fans can access Match Chat through the Wimbledon app and website, either using pre-written prompts or typing their own questions.

Examples include asking who has converted more break points or which player is performing better in the match.

The assistant relies on IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate, which combines multiple AI agents and large language models including IBM Granite.

These models have been specifically trained on Wimbledon’s editorial style and tennis terminology to ensure responses match the tournament’s tone and accuracy standards.

“We are committed to providing fans with the best possible Wimbledon experience, whether they interact with us through TV, radio, digitally or within the grounds,” says Usama Al-Qassab, Marketing and Commercial Director at the All England Club.

The system will also function post-match through IBM Slamtracker for selected high-profile matches, extending the analysis beyond live play.

Likelihood to Win: An AI tool for real-time updates

Alongside Match Chat, IBM has upgraded its existing Likelihood to Win feature. 

This feature uses AI to provide real-time, dynamically updated win probability percentages for each player during matches, based on player statistics, expert opinion and match momentum.

The tool now provides updated win percentage projections that change throughout each game, rather than remaining static during matches.

The enhanced system analyses player statistics, expert opinions and match momentum using comprehensive AI-powered algorithms.

It also operates on Red Hat OpenShift, IBM’s container platform that enables developers to build and deploy applications across multiple computing environments efficiently.

Container platforms like OpenShift allow software to run consistently across different systems by packaging applications with all their dependencies – ensuring the win probability calculations remain accurate and responsive regardless of user device or location.

The combination of real-time data processing and AI analysis aims to provide fans with constantly updated insights as match dynamics shift.

IBM and Wimbledon’s 35-year partnership for technology evolution

IBM’s relationship with Wimbledon extends back 35 years, making it one of the longest-standing technology partnerships in professional sport.

The collaboration has previously introduced features including heat maps showing player movement and serve analysis tools.

Yet this year’s developments is the latest application of Gen AI to sports broadcasting and fan engagement. 

“Solutions like Match Chat and Likelihood to Win show how AI on watsonx can deliver tennis fans the compelling real-time insight and match engagement they want around this historic tournament and its players,” says Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IBM.

“Our 35-year partnership with the All England Club is another example of how IBM helps clients unlock and achieve lasting value from their unique data using AI.”

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