71 FUTURESHOCK Wimbledon/IBM Watson
Wimbledon’s long-standing relationship with IBM has introduced artificial intelligence to a 150-year-old British institution INTELLIGENT WIMBLEDON Words by Neal Romanek
employ who sit around all the different courts. At every match on every court, we collect statistics,” says IBM’s Simon Boyden. Boyden is a digital architect in IBM’s iX group, which focuses on helping businesses deliver innovations through the implementation of IBM tools. The statisticians Boyden employs are actually tennis players – no one competing at the Wimbledon Tournament, obviously, but competent county-level players. Trained to use IBM equipment, between one and three tennis-player statisticians sit on every court, and throughout each match capture every single data point that could be imagined. Approximately 4.8 million data points are captured across the duration of the tournament. Additionally, on-site technology supervisers are in radio contact with all the stats teams and are able to review video. “Occasionally, one of the courtside stats teams may phone in and ask, ‘We weren’t quite sure. Second point, third game, second set – was that really an ace or not?’, Boyden explains. “We can wind back through the video and see if the player really did just manage to get their raquet
imbledon is as venerable an English institution as you can get (despite the fact that no English player has won since
on the ball. So we really have a lot of focus around that quality of data.” WIMBLEDON’S DIGITAL HUB That quality of data is the underpinning of all the services that IBM provides the club. These include services for the media working onsite, allowing broadcasters, commentators and analysts to sift through and explore all the match data that has been collected, including video. All this information is also made available to players and coaches. Analysis of video and the accompanying statistics are a cornerstone of modern sports science. IBM are also behind the broadcast graphics that accompany the tournament and gameplay. “When you’re watching Wimbledon on the BBC and you see the graphics popping up with the score or some of the statistics that sit behind it, those are graphics that are fed by the data produced by my team.” IBM have a data sciences team who often work closely with the media to come up with interesting facts, figures and historical Wimbledon data that can be incorporated into a broadcast. The
Virginia Wade in 1977). It’s strawberries and Pimms, with hours to engage in that ultimate English pastime – obsessing about the weather. The TV coverage of the tournament has also been traditional, with the BBC the go-to presenter of coverage for decades. But behind the ritual and tradition, Wimbledon has never been afraid of bringing aboard new technology to enhance the experience and running of the tournament, both on-site and in viewers’ homes. In 1990, Wimbledon began a partnership with computing giant IBM. The company came aboard to help handle data. Few then would be able to predict what is now commonplace – that good data is essential for producing good content, especially sports content. And at the Wimbledon Tennis Championship, data is collected on a massive scale. “We have 48 statisticians that we
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