🎾 Australian Open 2025: 3D Avatars Instead of Champions
The Australian Open tennis tournament has found a loophole to show its live events on YouTube for free, despite having sold lucrative exclusive broadcast rights to partners worldwide.
Instead of a TV picture, viewers see 3D avatars stylized as characters from Wii Sports Tennis. The video shows a fragment of yesterday's game between world number five Daniil Medvedev and Thai tennis player Kasidit Samrej ⤴️.
⚙️ How Does It Work?
The director of innovation at Tennis Australia, Machar Reid, says the tennis players' movements are tracked by 12 cameras and stitched together across 29 points in the skeleton. The display delay is just two minutes, although the accuracy of the movements is far from perfect. AI helps track and synchronize the noise of fans in the arena, as well as comments, replays, and other broadcast elements.
Would you watch such a 3D football game?
❤️ — yes, the important thing is that it's live!
🤯 — better pay for a subscription...
