30 October 2025
Serving up AI – the digital transformation of tennis
While tennis is steeped in tradition, milestone collaborations with technology companies such as Hawk-eye, Microsoft and IBM means 2025 has been a year for technological integration in tennis. July 2025 marked a turning point in the 147-year history of the Wimbledon tournament as all 300 human line judges were removed from the courts and replaced by the electronic line judgement system, and September 2025 saw Microsoft's AI tool, Match Insights, being put into practice at the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup finals.1
The growing influence of technology offers an interesting lens to examine tennis' evolution as it is being integrated on and off the court, affecting players, coaches and fans. A common question for all sports adopting technology is how it can be best utilised to increase efficiency, performance and engagement within the sport: tennis is finding out.
Technology Giants on Court
Sony’s Hawk-eye technology is a tool that has been used across the sport sector since the 2001 cricket match between England and Pakistan.2 Yet only this year has Hawk-eye been exclusively used in Wimbledon without human line judges, highlighting the technological benchmark that tennis must strive to meet.
The use of technology has extended not only to surveying the movements of players on court, but to wearable devices that players can use to track personal information such as detailed health statistics and performance data. Despite the abundant advantages such as tracking early-stage injuries and providing an essential tool for players to maximize their wellbeing, it is important to have stakeholder perspective in the decision-making process around the regulation of this technology, ensuring a human is in the loop.
There are strict regulations imposed by the Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) regarding how and when wearable devices can be used during matches. The ITF's Rules of Tennis prescribes Player Analysis Technology regulations in which the wearable device must be approved by the ITF and the information stored by the wearable device can only be accessed by the coaches during approved times during the match.3 The WTA has been much more accepting of adopting wearable devices into competitive matches, whereas the ATP only approved the use of devices during tournaments on 15 July 2024.4
The first wearable technology approved by the WTA in 2021 was Whoop, Inc (WHOOP) which has been used by several high-performance female players. This partnership continues to be used by players such as Aryna Sabalenka, world No. 1 and recent winner of the US Open. The data used by WHOOP is broadcast by the WTA and used in social media posts to enhance the experience for spectators and particularly for younger audiences.
Female Players and Technology Collaborations
The 2025 Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup finals held in China this September highlighted the importance of collaboration between influential female players such as Billie Jean King, technology companies and tennis. The BJK Cup partnered with Microsoft who have created Match Insights to enhance the tournament experience.5 The AI tool uses Hawk-Eye and leveraging services such as Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL DB, and Azure AI Foundry to analyse and present important gameplay data. As one of the few tournaments where on-court coaching is permitted by the ITF, players and coaches can use data presented on a Microsoft Surface courtside or after the match.6
Match Insights has been received positively, with players including Rebecca Sramkova commenting on how they can change their game plan to win matches.7 Billie Jean King is also full of praise for the tool; the use of Match Insights on this prestigious stage propels tennis forward. Shenzhen will continue to host the BJK Cup finals until 2027 with Microsoft continuing to be the events Global Technology and Innovation Partner until the conclusion of the 2026 season - it is exciting to see how the use of Match Insights develops and its further impact on the game.8 As data capture evolves, the wider use and reduced cost of this technology offers opportunities to democratise the distribution of such technologies like Match Insights across other women’s sports.
Serving Support Off Court
A prime example of when AI and technology have met matters off-court, particularly legal and safe-guarding issues, is the initiative Safe Sport. Launched by Tennis Data Innovations, Sportradar and Arwen AI in July 2024, Safe Sport uses AI to scan the social media accounts of the ATP top 250 singles and top 50 doubles players for comments containing abusive content.9 Comments are automatically hidden from view to protect players and promote a safer environment for fans to engage with.10
Another example is the “Match Chat” and “Likelihood to Win” tools developed by Wimbledon and IBM. The two parties have a long-standing partnership, yet the new tools, accessible on the 2025 Wimbledon app, were noted as particularly interesting for spectators. Both tools use AI and IBM watsonx technology to provide interactive functions for fans to engage further in the matches by asking questions to the AI technology and observing player statistics and winning probabilities.11 Technology provider contracts must be carefully drafted to ensure that administrators do not lose control of the embedded technologies and instead can control how the resulting data is deployed in a fan-friendly way. Both “Match Chat” and “Likelihood to Win” exemplify the effectiveness of a sharp AI tool which has increased spectator engagement and added excitement to the tournament.
The Future of Tennis
To conclude, technology in tennis is becoming a space to watch out for with the number of technology partnerships increasing with each year. The impact of technology has transcended all levels of tennis from the Grand Slams down to smaller ATP and WTA events hosted across the world. With big collaborations between female players such as Aryna Sabalenka and Billie Jean King, it is an area which presents an exciting opportunity for greater investment and partnerships particularly heading into the 2026 Grand Slams.
1Sky Sports (2024), 'Wimbledon: All England club to replace all 300 line judges after 147 years with electronic system next year' <Wimbledon: All England club to replace all 300 line judges after 147 years with electronic system next year | Tennis News | Sky Sports>
2BBC (2025), 'The man behind Hawk-Eye and goal-lie tech' <BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, Creating Hawk-Eye and goal-line tech, The man behind Hawk-Eye and goal-line tech>
3International Tennis Federation (2024), 'IFT Rules of Tennis', sections 30,31 and appendix 3 <2025-rules-of-tennis-english.pdf>
4ATP Tour (2024, 'ATP approves in-competition wearables to enhance player performance & recovery' <ATP approves in-competition wearables to enhance player performance & recovery | ATP Tour | Tennis>
5Billie Jean King Cup (2025), 'Microsoft Match Insights shines at Billie Jean King Cup, ushering in a new era of AI-powered sports' <Microsoft Match Insights shines at Billie Jean King Cup, ushering in a new era of AI-powered sports - Billie Jean King Cup - The World Cup of Tennis>
6Ibid.
7Ibid.
8Billie Jean King Cup (2025), 'Microsoft renews partnership with Billie Jean King Cup for next three seasons' <Microsoft renews partnership with Billie Jean King Cup for next three seasons - Billie Jean King Cup - The World Cup of Tennis>; 'Shenzhen announced as finals host' <Shenzhen announced as Finals host - Billie Jean King Cup - The World Cup of Tennis>
9ATP Tour (2025), 'ATP Safe Sport reports first-year results in fight against online abuse' <ATP Safe Sport reports first-year results in fight against online abuse | ATP Tour | Tennis>
10ATP Tour (2024), 'ATP launches cutting edge AI-powered service to protect players from online abuse' <ATP launches cutting edge AI-powered service to protect players from online abuse | ATP Tour | Tennis>
11IBM (2025), 'The All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM Launch New AI Features for Real-Time Wimbledon Fan Engagement' <The All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM Launch New AI Features for Real-Time Wimbledon Fan Engagement>