Tennis: a real player against a virtual opponent

Anicet Mbida 06:56, May 10, 2022

An unprecedented match has just taken place.

For the first time, a real tennis player faced a virtual opponent.

In this case, it was legend John McEnroe, 63, challenging a younger version of himself.

A real technological tour de force, since we are not talking about a match on a screen, with joysticks.

But of a real confrontation on a tennis court with real balls and real rackets.

How is it possible ?

First, we analyzed hundreds of hours of McEnroe's matches, using artificial intelligence techniques.

This made it possible to identify the peculiarities of his game, his way of moving and playing the shots.

Then, we created a computer-generated avatar capable of reproducing his slightest movements.

And for the match itself, the video of this avatar was projected, on the other side of the net, on a kind of smoke screen.

All perfectly synchronized with the ball.

And behind this screen, it was a robot (invisible suddenly),

And who wins in the end?

Draw, of course!

In fact, it was mostly a technological demonstration and a pretext to retrace the player's career.

A spectacle.

Because in reality, a 63-year-old McEnroe would have had no chance against himself, at 25 at the top of his game.

But we continue to develop the technology with one objective: to be able to answer the questions that many fans are asking.

For example: “Who is the best tennis player of all time?

“With this system, we could bring together the legends of today (Nadal, Djokovic, Fédérer…) and those of yesterday (Borg, Lendl or McEnroe).

Could we do the same in other sports?

Absolutely.

It is, moreover, not by chance that the event was organized by a paying channel.

This makes it possible to create the event even when there is no competition.

And by the way, to earn a little money by partnering with sports betting operators… You have to make the astronomical costs of television rights profitable.