Wimbledon is a sporting event that is steeped in tradition, from the all-white dress code to mountains of strawberries and cream.

This does not mean that that the tennis grand slam has stayed in the 1870s. They have been quietly innovating, especially when utilising their partnership with IBM.

This long-standing partnership has made it possible for Wimbledon to be able to use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the viewer experience.

With viewing habits moving away from traditional forms, a significant challenge for the club has been to create and deliver content to align with modern viewing habits.

This means taking into consideration people watching on different devices, at different times, and seeking out different types of content too.

For example, while some viewers might be serious fans others tend to be interested in a behind-the-scenes look at Wimbledon as an event rather than the tennis itself.

This year, Wimbledon is using IBM Watson to assist production teams in creating highlight packages.

Watson analyses player emotion, movement, and crowd noise in order to determine the most interesting and must-see moments to include.

This tech enables Wimbledon to produce content faster meaning there’ll be more matches turned into highlights overall.

Wimbledon has launched a new Facebook Messenger chatbot in order to align to an increasingly mobile audience.

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The idea is that fans can access news and updates on what they’re most interested in, such as specific players or match scores.

Wimbledon is notorious for die-hard fans sleeping overnight outside the club to get tickets. Wimbledon has added an extra feature, to ensure visitors feel as much as a part of the action as possible.

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This year Wimbledon added augmented reality features. One, in particular, was born out of previous feedback from spectators that it is hard to identify players on the practice courts.

This year app users were able to view overlaid graphics detailing key player stats when they point their camera at augmented reality (AR)-enabled hotspots.

IBM Watson was not just enlisted to enhance user experience but also mark AELTC’s 150th anniversary.

AI marked the anniversary by pulling together thousands of images to create a mosaic style poster. The poster shows an overarching design of centre court and is a symbol of Wimbledon’s evolution.