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Wimbledon to deliver 'ultimate highlights' using Artificial Intelligence at 2017 Championships

Wimbledon will serve up enhanced highlights at the 2017 Championships: Getty Images
Wimbledon will serve up enhanced highlights at the 2017 Championships: Getty Images

This year’s Wimbledon tennis championships are set to be the most high-tech ever - with fans even having their emotions measured to make the most of the drama.

The tournament starts next week, when Andy Murray will be battling to defend his crown.

But the players won’t be the only ones being scrutinised.

Every courtside cheer, squint, ooh and ahh captured on TV cameras and microphones will be uploaded to the cloud and analysed by IBM’s artificial intelligence software.

This will be added to a facial scanning system introduced last year to build the “ultimate highlights packages” for people watching at home.

The tech firm claims its AI software, which also analyses players’ movements and match data, is even better at finding nail-biting clips than a human.

Sam Seddon, IBM’s Wimbledon client and programme executive, said: “When a match has really stimulated the crowd to get up on their feet and cheer, we’ll hone in on those points.

“We’re also looking for players’ reactions, where they really get fired up and gesticulate, or they come to the net and give each other a hug at the end of the match.

“Through data, crowd noise and visual image recognition we will automatically create highlights packages of the most interesting moments in those matches.

“It’s taking the TV feed from the court and streaming it through our visual image recognition software.”

Other innovations this year will see matches at practice courts shot with 360-degree cameras.

The All England Club also hired IBM to build a bespoke AI-powered question-and-answer app using its Watson machine learning technology.

Ask Fred, named after Fred Perry, has been “taught” what fans want to know depending on whether they are en route to the tournament or inside the grounds.

“Our AI allows people to ask questions through a natural language interface, which is all designed so they make the most of their day and have a fantastic experience,” said Mr Seddon.

There will also be another breakthrough at the championships - free public wi-fi.

Visitors previously have had to rely on an imperfect mobile network to access all this data and content.

It will be available at Wimbledon for the first time this year, but only in three places ahead of a “wider deployment” next year, possibly including Henman Hill.

Fans logging on will be tracked to see how they use the service and what they share to social media.

Anti-malware detection will “detect and block” any “suspicious events”, IBM said, after there was an increase last year in the number of attempts to breach its network.