The Australian Open, one of the world’s biggest tennis competitions, is taking place in Melbourne right now, and the tournament’s use of AI is absolutely hilarious.
Due to not having full broadcast rights for all of the matches taking place during the tournament, the Aussie Open instead has chosen to use generative AI to live stream matches with Nintendo Wii-style tennis animations on a 2-minute delay. The genius idea allows tennis fans from around the world to watch tennis for free via YouTube, although it doesn’t quite have the charm of the real thing.
Where Wii Tennis-style recreations of live sport do thrive, however, is when things go wrong on the court and AI doesn’t quite know how to handle what it sees. During Daniel Medvedev’s first-round match, the Russian destroyed his racket by hitting it against the ground and net, AI recreated the action and the results are hilarious.
The Australian Open doesn’t have fullbroadcast rights for all matches. So, its YouTube livestream uses AI to generate Nintendo Wii Tennis cartoon avatars that mimics the action on a 2-minute delay.As a result, this animated clip of Daniel Medvedev smashing his tennis racket… pic.twitter.com/VGVlteA4RxJanuary 16, 2025
The future is now
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen sporting events transformed into animation, the NFL frequently uses animation to try and encourage more kids to take up the sport. Characters from The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants take over commentary to create an entertaining broadcast suitable for children.
The Australian Open’s variation, dubbed AO Animated, works by using sensors on the courts to then digitally reproduce the live action. There’s even live commentary and crowd noise so you feel like you’re experiencing the live game, just in animation. While the technology debuted last year, viewing figures suggest this year’s variation is far more popular with tennis audiences around the globe.
Tennis is known for being a trendsetter with technology in sport, opting for the groundbreaking Hawk-Eye technology as far back as 2006. Could this new iteration of live streaming that allows users to consume colorful, yet realistic, reproductions of live events become the norm in sports? Could we see highlights of the 2026 World Cup of Soccer converted into AI? Considering the viral possibilities of clips like Medvedev destroying his racket, and the convenience of watching live matches on YouTube with a 2-minute delay free of any broadcast rights, I fully expect more AI-generated sports in the future.