The United States Tennis Association is bringing AI-powered experiences to the U.S. Open this week as part of an IBM partnership, the organizations announced Monday.
Fans can access an AI assistant, called Match Chat, during and after the 254 singles matches by selecting a pre-written prompt or typing their own questions about player stats or records.
The assistant was built with IBM watsonx Orchestrate technology, including AI agents and LLMs, and trained on the U.S. Open data. The companies are also introducing an enhanced version of IBM SlamTracker that projects win probabilities in real time and AI-generated commentary for post-match insights.
Between 13 million and 15 million visitors are expected to interact with the digital platforms, according to Brian Ryerson, senior director of digital strategy at the USTA.
“We developed a long-term technology roadmap that has transformed how we operate and connect with fans,” Ryerson said in a statement. “We identified the hybrid cloud and AI capabilities needed to bring it to life.”
As the USTA has been developing a new lineup of tools, the tennis organization has also focused on upgrading core operations and back-office workflows.
“Behind the scenes, we’re leveraging IBM’s AI-powered tools to streamline infrastructure management, optimize costs and improve operational resilience,” Ryerson said in an email to CIO Dive. “These capabilities also enhance content production workflows — accelerating everything from real-time highlights to player insights — enabling our teams to deliver timely, engaging content more efficiently than ever before.”
USTA’s small editorial team uses bespoke AI tools to edit AI-generated summaries of matches to improve the team’s capacity. Starting with an AI summary improved content production by 300%, according to Ryerson.
AI is continuing to play a larger role in sports organizations and events.
The National Football League tapped AI-powered capabilities in Amazon QuickSight to develop dashboards for fans watching the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in February. The NFL has also moved AI projects into production in its media division just before the season kicked off last year as the organization pursued productivity boosts and streamlined workflows.
With each game or match, mountains of data points are ripe for the picking. AI is making it easier for organizations to share those insights with fans and employees. The All England Lawn Tennis Club brought Match Chat to Wimbledon earlier this summer as part of a collaboration with IBM.
Better and more modern technology is also helping these organizations improve resiliency during high-traffic events.
“During the U.S. Open, our hybrid cloud infrastructure seamlessly scales to handle traffic surges of up to 50 times our typical annual load, ensuring uninterrupted, high-quality digital experiences for fans around the world,” Ryerson said.
