The Australian Open is live streaming an alternative Wii Tennis-style broadcast during this year’s Grand Slam tournament on YouTube.
The move, which has left some spectators baffled, appears to be a clever way of getting around broadcasting restrictions at Melbourne Park.
Australian Open tennis fans were treated to an alternative view of Carlos Alcaraz’s first-round match against Alexander Shevchenko on Monday.
The two tennis stars were depicted as cartoons – larger and rounder than in real life – looking similar to the characters on the video game Wii Sports.
‘The Australian Open don’t own all of their broadcasting rights (fairly common),’ tennis reporter Bastien Fachan explained on X.
‘So they’re live-streaming a Wii Tennis-like version of the matches on YouTube – love this.’
Several matches that took place over the first two days of the event have been given the same treatment as Alcaraz’s win over Shevchenko.
Players’ on-court actions are being mimicked by the animated figures in real time, meaning tennis fans are somewhat able to watch the action live.
The move is a recent trend in sport broadcasting – using motion capture and AI technology to recreate a live game digitally – which has been seen in other sports such as the NFL.
There have been some issues with the Wii Tennis-style broadcasts at the Australian Open, though, with some fans complaining the real audio from the match doesn’t always sync up correctly.
Other tennis fans have lauded the oddball broadcasts, providing them a way to follow the action live without having to load up illegal streams or rely on the radio without any form of visual content.
‘Did not realize this is a thing, but what a fun way of still updating your viewer on the match!’ one tennis fan, @mrwangkai, posted on X. ‘Versus the alternative, watching commentators commenting on the match that they can see, but you can’t.’
‘It’s crazy how good the tracking is and awesome seeing sports do this,’ @Dannibisss added. ‘I’ve seen the NHL and NFL do this a couple times in collaboration with a couple cartoons.’