For me, Wimbledon is one of the sporting highlights of the year. In previous Championships, I was lucky enough to be invited by IBM to see first-hand how the world's oldest tennis tournament was using cutting-edge technology to create amazing spectator experiences. Today, Wimbledon has become a technology-driven media operation, consistently refining its ability to keep fans engaged with the game in increasingly immersive and personalized ways. The AI of IBM Watson has been at the heart of this digital transformation. Much of it began with the introduction of "SlamTracker."

For nearly three decades, IBM has partnered with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to bring this prestigious sporting event to life for millions of fans, players, coaches, and even the media. This year players from Roger Federer to Serena Williams, along with their coaches, will be utilising IBM AI-powered tools to sharpen their game plan and skill. Better still, IBM Watson is also reinventing how fans experience the US Open, taking it far beyond simply reporting the very latest Novak Djokovic news. Watson Virtual Assistant will help the hundreds of thousands of fans visiting the tournament to successfully navigate everything from maps to dining options, along with making the US Open Schedule seem so much less daunting. IBM Watson's AI capacity enables it to see, hear, and understand the most exciting moments recorded on video.

IBM has once again partnered with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and they're using new AI-powered tools during the US Open to deliver AI-generated highlights, real-time stats and match analysis, as well as an onsite experience center where attendees can experience AI in action. There's a new technology solution, IBM Coach Advisor, that uses AI and analytics to quantify a player's physical exertion and endurance and make correlations to match performance, both during regular games and at the US Open. There's also IBM Watson OpenScale, which figures out the most emotion-packed moments on court for highlight reels. This means that fans watching the men's finals with Danlil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal, or watching highlights from the women's finals with Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu will be able to view the most breath-taking moments thanks to AI. This is different from the traditional way that coaches assess an athlete's mechanics and endurance.

IBM's Watson artificial intelligence supercomputer is going to lend its insights to help enhance the fan experience at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. It will do so via a new cognitive-based concierge feature in the tournament's official mobile app. To enhance the fan experience at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the mobile app will pilot a Watson-enabled discovery tool that allows fans to input natural language questions and receive immediate responses about a range of tournament topics, such as transportation and directions, food and drink options, and on-site services and facilities. Accessible via the cloud, Watson will offer cognitive computing, cloud, and analytics. By tapping into the natural language software from the Watson platform, the A.I.-infused app will enable fans to ask questions in natural language and get the information they need to plan and navigate their tournament experience.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced that IBM Watson is coming to the US Open Tennis Championships for the first time via a new cognitive concierge feature being piloted within the tournament's official mobile apps to enhance the fan experience at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The US Open mobile app Guest Services companion will pilot a Watson-enabled discovery tool that allows fans to input natural language questions and receive immediate responses about a range of tournament topics, such as transportation and directions, food and drink options, on-site services and facilities, as well as other topics. By tapping into the Natural Language API from the Watson platform, the AI-infused app will enable fans to ask questions in natural language and get the information they need to plan and navigate their tournament experience. For example, fans can ask questions like, "Where can I get a soda?" or "Where are the taxi stands?" Due to Watson's machine learning capabilities, the app also continuously learns from previous interactions helping further refine its responses over time.