MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Maybe attending sports events in person is too been-there, done-that in the modern age. So, apparently, is watching the actual action on a TV, laptop or phone. The Australian Open is getting in on the newest trend in the sports world by re-creating tennis matches in video-game form.
The year's first Grand Slam tournament, which runs through Jan. 26, is streaming real-time animated feeds on its YouTube channel that mimic what's happening in the three main stadiums.
Players are represented by characters that look like something out of a Wii game — not exactly perfect portrayals of Coco Gauff or Novak Djokovic, perhaps, but the graphics do try to show the correct outfit colors or hats and bandanas the athletes are wearing and reflect what is happening in the matches, with about a one-point delay.
“Sometimes I think it’s a very accurate (depiction) of the actual player that’s playing. So it’s weird. It’s funny and weird,” said 2021 U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who will face Gauff in the third round Friday. “I did not see myself just yet. Maybe I will. Now I’m curious, because I’ve seen different players ... and I think I want to watch myself, too.”
Tennis Australia created its own “skins” to represent players, chair umpires and ball persons.
“The wonderful part of it is it’s the players’ actual movement. It’s the actual trajectory of the ball,” Machar Reid, Tennis Australia’s director of innovation, told The Associated Press. “We’re taking the real into the unreal. That’s part of the magic.”
Carlos Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion at age 21, called it “a good alternative.”
Like many players preparing for future opponents, Fernandez often scours YouTube to try to find footage of past matches to aid with scouting. That, Fernandez said with a chuckle, is how she accidentally discovered the cartoonish replays from Melbourne Park that have been creating a buzz among the competitors.
She was having trouble finding a certain match when she noticed a thumbnail photo of two players, Fernandez said.
“So I click on it and think, ’This is it! Finally! I have one,'” Fernandez said. "Nope. It’s a Wii character, which is hilarious.”
Jiri Lehecka, a Czech player seeded 24th in Australia, was checking social media the other day when he came across a “replay” of 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev's avatar destroying a net camera by smacking it repeatedly with his racket during a first-round victory.
“I had no idea that something like that exists, so for me, it was quite funny to see that,” Lehecka said. “Maybe I will see myself as a game character one day. We will see.”
To get the chance, he'll need to play a match in Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena or John Cain Arena. Tennis Australia first experimented with this on one court during last year's tournament, hoping to attract gamers and a younger audience to the sport.
The NFL, NBA and NHL also have tried this type of approach, using animation for alternate game telecasts.
The 2024 debut in Melbourne “was kind of in stealth and didn’t necessarily capture the world’s imagination. But this year, we’ve seen that happening,” Reid said.
The streams in the first four days of the event this week drew more than 950,000 views, according to Tennis Australia; the figure for the same time period in 2024 was about 140,000.
“It’s part of our DNA to innovate and try to challenge the status quo or, in this instance, provide experiences to different groups of fans that are more personalized for them to consume,” Reid said. “We’re seeing younger kids or the gaming demographic gravitating to the sport maybe in this way. Clearly, it’s not for everyone.”
Might this eventually became 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 sport and entertainment is moving so, so quickly,” Reid said. “But I think we’re always going to be drawn to the amazing athletes doing their thing in front of our very eyes.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
