IBM Is Changing How Tennis Fans Watch the US Open

The serve has always been one of tennis’ great mysteries. Speed tells part of the story. Placement tells another. Now IBM and the USTA are trying to show fans what is happening underneath it all. 

For the 2026 US Open, IBM has introduced a new collection of AI-powered features across USOpen.org and the tournament app designed to make matches easier to follow, more personalized and considerably more data-rich.

The most intriguing may be Serve Quality, a new metric available across all 254 singles matches. Using advanced limb-tracking technology developed with IBM Bob, the system analyzes 21 points across a player’s body and racquet 50 times per second.

That means the technology can examine details ranging from wrist flex and ball toss to how energy moves from a player’s legs through the torso and into the racquet. IBM says the system will process roughly 1.2 billion data points over the course of the tournament before producing a Serve Quality score in near real time.

For tennis players accustomed to obsessing over toss position, leg drive, timing and contact point, it offers a different way to watch one of the sport’s most technically demanding shots.

Source: IBM

IBM and the USTA are also expanding the tournament’s Likelihood to Win feature with Key Moments, which is designed to explain the turning points and momentum swings behind changing win probabilities rather than simply showing who is favored.

Match Chat has been upgraded as well. Fans can ask questions in conversational language during matches and receive answers drawing from live match data, analysis and historical information. Some responses can now incorporate relevant photos and video.

The tournament’s new Live Updates homepage will also allow fans to prioritize favorite players and more quickly find the matches, statistics and stories they care about.

The technology arrives as sports organizations continue experimenting with how AI can improve the fan experience without simply adding more information to an already crowded screen.

IBM and the USTA have been working together since 1992, building digital experiences that now reach more than 14 million tennis fans annually.

“Our work with IBM this year has been game-changing, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in digital fan engagement,” said Brian Ryerson, Senior Director, Digital Strategy at the USTA.

For fans watching the US Open this year, the biggest change may be simple: instead of only seeing what happened on the court, they may get a much clearer picture of why it happened.

By Florida Tennis Staff. Sources: IBM | US Open

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