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Wimbledon fans get a smarter way to follow the action
Tennis fans are gearing up for the 2025 Wimbledon Championships, which kick off in London on Monday.
Tech giant IBM, which has worked closely with Wimbledon for many years to provide the digital backbone for the tournament's online presence, has given the website and mobile app a makeover in readiness for this year's event.
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Of particular note is a brand new feature called Match Chat, an interactive AI assistant that's able to answer fans' questions about the match that they're watching.
Match Chat, available on the Wimbledon app (iOS and Android) and on lets you engage with the AI chatbot using either pre-written prompts or your own questions, which could be anything from 'Who has converted more break points in the match?' to 'Who is performing better in the match?', with the system drawing on its AI smarts — and a trove of IBM tennis data — to provide immediate responses.
The bespoke AI model powering Match Chat has been trained on the Wimbledon app's editorial style and the language of tennis, which should result in natural responses that are easy for fans to understand.
IBM has also enhanced its Likelihood to Win tool, a fun feature that generates match projections from a comprehensive, AI-powered analysis of player statistics, expert opinion, and match momentum. It's very impressive, but to be on the safe side, don't bet your life's savings on one of its forecasts.
Usama Al-Qassab of Wimbledon's All England Club said: 'The innovations we have introduced in recent years, driven by generative AI, in conjunction with IBM, allow us to provide more exciting ways for our hundreds of millions of fans around the world to interact with The Championships. This year's new features will encourage the Wimbledon audience to immerse themselves and engage with all the match action like never before.'
This year's Wimbledon tournament will see top seeds Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz headline a highly competitive men's field, with Alcaraz chasing a third consecutive title and Sinner aiming for his first grass-court major. In the women's draw, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek, and last year's Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini will be among the top players battling it out for the singles title.
