Brace yourself for the unmistakable sound of a tennis ball thwacking away in the background of your living room for two weeks – Wimbledon is finally upon us. As skilled as the players on the court are, it’s the delightful spectacle of my family’s amateur commentary that I enjoy the most. ‘Who on earth is that?’ my grandmother used to ask, unfailingly, when anyone unseeded dared to play against her beloved Steffi Graff. ‘The Spaniard is touching his bum again’ is the refrain in our house when Nadal prepares to serve. For the casual spectator, it’s our lack of true tennis expertise that makes the tournament such a delight to watch: we like to gaze at its alchemy, without knowing too much about how the magic comes about.
This year, however, we may supplement this highly (un)professional commentary with Wimbledon’s new AI system Watson available on the official app. Watson, powered by the IBM power index, will now provide spectators with ‘Win Factors’ that give a better understanding of player performance along with a daily ranking of player momentum before and during the tournament.
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