IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced several watsonx-powered fan features coming to the US Open digital platforms ahead of this year’s tournament. These new and enhanced capabilities – a product of collaboration between IBM and the USTA digital team – aim to deliver a more informative and engaging experience for millions of tennis fans around the world.
All-new this year, IBM will deliver AI-generated Match Report summaries for every men’s and women’s singles match within minutes of conclusion. The solution leverages technologies from watsonx, IBM’s AI and data platform – including Granite 13B, its large language model (LLM) purpose-built for business – and the USTA’s trusted data and editorial guidelines to produce long-form, post-match articles featuring analysis of player performance, statistics and highlights. The content is reviewed and updated with context and commentary from USTA editorial staff prior to publication on the US Open app and USOpen.org.
Match Reports will expand editorial capabilities of the USTA, enabling them to provide fans with timely coverage at unprecedented scale – for all 254 main draw singles matches across seven rounds and all seventeen courts.
An enhanced version of IBM’s AI commentary is also returning to the US Open digital platforms. First introduced in 2023, AI commentary provides automated English-language audio and subtitles for men’s and women’s singles match summary highlight videos. This year, IBM will utilize watsonx including the Granite 13B LLM to generate more frequent, expressive and contextual commentary, with highlight packages published just minutes after a match concludes.
Fans will also have access to a fully redesigned IBM SlamTracker experience offering detailed pre-, live and post-match insights. These include likelihood to win predictions, point-by-point analysis, and bulleted match previews and recaps, built on IBM watsonx, for all men’s and women’s singles matches. This includes for live matches a new, near real-time 3D graphic of current play.
Additionally, IBM and the USTA Foundation, the USTA’s philanthropic arm, are announcing a collaboration to offer free career readiness training through IBM SkillsBuild, aligning with the USTA Foundation’s mission to help under-resourced youth become more engaged in school and learning and IBM’s goal of skilling 30 million people by 2030. The collaboration will provide students from select USTA Foundation National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) chapters, as well as teaching professionals and the public, access to AI and professional development courses, such as customized learning plans, workshops and guidance from IBM volunteers. Participants will also have access to a new guidebook and interactive micro-learning course, available in English and Spanish, providing information on AI concepts and techniques used in tennis, such as electronic line calling and player analytics, as well as an introduction to LLMs, including IBM Granite.
“Fans want more quality content around their favorite sports and athletes, and IBM Match Reports enables us to deliver it right away for the US Open,” said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IBM. “IBM’s continued partnership with the USTA, built on more than 30 years of innovation, is an example of how businesses in any sector can modernize and scale their workflows with models like Granite and AI technologies like watsonx.”
“One of the key goals of the US Open Digital Platforms is to provide fans worldwide with comprehensive coverage of all the action taking place during the three weeks of the tournament,” said Brian Ryerson, Sr. Director of Digital Strategy at the USTA. “AI Match Reports enables us to efficiently deliver concise, factual match previews and reports for over 150 matches to fans across our platforms. The efficiency of providing this content at scale allows our editorial teams to focus on other storylines and interviews ensuring we can provide the most comprehensive coverage possible.”
These new features and efforts showcase how IBM and the USTA continue to co-create world-class digital experiences that bring the drama and excitement of the US Open to more than 15 million people around the world each year. The US Open’s digital experiences are run on the USTA’s flexible, open hybrid cloud platform, which integrates technology from dozens of partners, automates key business processes, and secures the entire world-class digital experience of the US Open.
The 2024 US Open runs from August 19 – September 8. To see IBM technology in action, visit USOpen.org and/or the US Open app available in the Apple and Android app stores on mobile devices.
