Why the Australian Open is showing Wii Tennis versions of matches
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A new innovation at the first tennis grand slam of the year has captured the imagination. If you’ve stumbled across an Australian Open live-stream on their official YouTube channel this week, you may have been surprised by exactly what you were looking at.
![[Iga Swiatek is among the players who have been animated at the tournament]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/05/Australian_Open_Animated_Matches_14664.jpg)
Tennis Australia has followed the lead of a number of other sports by animating their players in a video game-esque format. In this case, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff et al look like characters from Wii Tennis. The Australian Open YouTube account has streamed a number of matches from the main courts live in this format and plan to do so until the end of the tournament on 26 January.
![[Animated Daniil Medvedev attacked the net with his racket during the first round]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/05/Australian_Open_Animated_Matches_28154.jpg)
The animations are not perfect replicas of the stars they’re representing but they’re certainly very impressive approximations, with correct outfit colours and hats, plus a successful mimicking of each player’s unique movement quirks. Their rackets, the court and the balls are also displayed as animated versions.
The animation works by having sensors on the actual courts at Melbourne Park, which feeds data into a system that then produces digital reproductions of the live match, with only around a two-minute delay. These animated versions of the matches are then synced to feature live commentary, crowd noise and chair umpire calls, plus player reactions, so they can be watched as live-streams.
“The wonderful part of it is it’s the players’ actual movement,” Machar Reid, Tennis Australia’s director of innovation, told The Associated Press. “It’s the actual trajectory of the ball. We’re taking the real into the unreal. That’s part of the magic.”.
