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The Australian Open, video game style, takes over the livestream

The Australian Open, video game style, takes over the livestream

 


MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Perhaps attending sporting events in person is too 'live-there-done-that' in the modern era. So apparently he's watching the actual action on a TV, laptop or phone. The Australian Open taps into the latest trend in the sports world by recreating tennis matches in video game form.

The years first Grand Slam tournamentwhich runs through January 26, streams real-time animated feeds his YouTube channel that mimic what happens in the three main stadiums.

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This image, created from animation and provided by Tennis Australia, shows a match between Iga Swiatek of Poland and Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, January 16, 2025. (Tennis Australia via access point)

Players are represented by characters that look like something out of a Wii game, but not exactly a perfect representation of one Coco Gauff or Novak DjokovicMaybe, but the graphics do try to show the correct outfit colors or hats and bandanas that the athletes are wearing and reflect what's happening during the games, with a delay of about one point.

Sometimes I think it's a very accurate (depiction) of the actual player playing. So it's weird. It's funny and weird, he said 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandezwho will face Gauff in the third round on Friday. I didn't see myself yet. Maybe I will. Now I'm curious because I've seen several players… and I think I want to see myself too.

Tennis Australia has created its own skins to represent players, chair umpires and ball handlers.

The beauty of it is that it is the actual movement of the player. It's the actual trajectory of the ball, Tennis Australia director of innovation Machar Reid told The Associated Press. We brought the real to the unreal. That's part of the magic.

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This image, created from animation and provided by Tennis Australia, shows Nishesh Basavareddy of the US during his first round match against Serbia's Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, January 13, 2025. (Tennis Australia via AP )

Carlos Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 21called it a good alternative.

Like many players preparing for future opponents, Fernandez often scours YouTube for footage of past games to aid in scouting. That, Fernandez said with a chuckle, is how she accidentally discovered the cartoonish replays of Melbourne Park that caused a stir among competitors.

She was having trouble finding a particular match when she saw a thumbnail photo of two players, Fernandez said.

So I click on it and think: this is it! Finally! “I have one,” Fernandez said. No. It's a Wii character, which is hilarious.

Jiri Lehecka, a Czech player seeded 24th in Australia, was recently checking social media when he came across a replay of the avatar of 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev destroying a net camera by repeatedly hitting it with his racket to hit during a first-round win.

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This image, created from animation and provided by Tennis Australia, shows a match between Iga Swiatek of Poland and Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, January 16, 2025. (Tennis Australia via access point)

“I had no idea something like that existed, so for me it was kind of funny to see that,” Lehecka said. Maybe one day I'll see myself as a gaming character. We'll see.

To get the opportunity, he must play a match at Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena or John Cain Arena. Tennis Australia experimented with this for the first time on one court at last year's tournament, hoping to attract gamers and a younger audience to the sport.

The N.F.L, N.B.A and NHL have also tried this type of approach, using animation for alternative game broadcasts.

The Melbourne debut in 2024 was a bit stealth and didn't necessarily capture the world's imagination. But this year we've seen that happen, Reid said.

According to Tennis Australia, streams were viewed more than 950,000 times during the first four days of the event this week; for the same period in 2024 the number was approximately 140,000.

It's part of our DNA to innovate and try to challenge the status quo or, in this case, provide experiences for different groups of fans that are more personalized to consume, Reid said. We may see younger kids or the gaming demographic gravitate towards the sport in this way. Obviously it's not for everyone.

Could this eventually become the No. 1 way fans watch sports?

Not in my lifetime and not in yours, I don't think. But who knows? The world of sports and entertainment moves so quickly, Reid said. But I think we will always be attracted to the great athletes doing their thing in front of our eyes.

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Howard Fendrich has been the APs tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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