THE WARDEN

Artificial Intelligence and the future of tennis

How will Artificial Intelligence affect the future of tennis? The Oxford English Dictionary
defines ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as ‘the theory and development of computer systems able to
perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech
recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.’ As complicated as it may
sound, we use Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, in our daily lives more than we might
think. Every time we order an Uber, unlock our phone using Face-ID, ask a voice assistant like
Alexa a question or even browse Netflix recommendations, behind the scenes Artificial
Intelligence is playing its role. The importance of AI in technology and everyday life is
increasing by the minute.

At ‘The Warden’, we were particularly interested in how Artificial Intelligence is transmuting

the world of sports and more specifically tennis. Generally, everything that can be expressed in
terms of numbers, can be predicted with precision using data analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
As there are plenty of such cases in tennis (where things happening on the court can be expressed
in data points), this can be taken advantage of so that Artificial Intelligence can potentially
improve performance. Our team embarked on a journey to learn more about the subject.

Novak Djokovic is the current number one player in tennis according to the ATP’s (Association
of Tennis Professionals) rankings and was the 2019 Men’s singles winner of Wimbledon. When
we learnt that the 17-time Grand Slam winner used AI in order to train for the tournament, we
knew that we had to find out more about its role in professional tennis.

We decided to reach out to Alex De Minaur, an Australian ex-student of the European School of
Alicante and the current 26th best tennis-player in the world in ATP Rankings, with numerous
games under his belt against top players such as Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Roger
Federer. In the interview with him, he told us about NextGen ATP, which in 2019 was the first
ATP Tour in history to feature the use of wearable technology. Alex himself was offered to
attach a chip to his back and collect data from his in-game performances. Surprisingly, despite
knowing the benefits, De Minaur decided not to adopt it and he explains his reasoning below.

“The chip would give you a lot of useful data, but it can be overwhelming if you start focusing
too much on all the information. You’d worry about too many things. A lot of tennis is
appearance. You can be really fatigued and put on a strong face and it really affects the game.
You need to let the opponent think that you can keep going on forever. That way you wear
him down psychologically.”
Alex, as he puts it, is ‘traditional’ when it comes to tennis. He prefers to keep it simple, going as
far as even avoiding a heartbeat monitor unless strictly necessary. De Minaur is a strong
advocate that you can’t prepare for everything. He says, “I need to get a feel on the court”.
Hence, Alex’s trainer Adolfo Gutiérrez is the one who does the research for him. “My coach
definitely looks up the different matches of my opponent, and then will let me know a couple
key points here and there that I should be ready for”.

De Minaur and Nadal @ ATP CUP 2020 Australia

The data collected from Alex’s chip at NextGen ATP could have been analyzed and employed in
not only exploiting his weaknesses, but also ascertaining his strengths. Furthermore, the results
obtained could also be used by coaches and analysts to devise exercises and game plans,
essentially giving the player an upper hand over other athletes who don’t use such technology.

We asked de Minaur what his thoughts were regarding training with robots in the future and he
seemed very incredulous. “I don’t see that happening anytime soon.” However, these robots
have already been invented and programmed successfully. FORPHEUS is a prototype table-
tennis-playing AI-robot developed by OMRON unveiled at the renowned Las Vegas CES
(Consumer Electronics Show), in 2019. All that is left, is magnifying the dimensions and building a
fully functional self-learning tennis-playing AI robot. (This is a video of a 1st-generation
FORPHEUS playing against former world champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov:
https://youtu.be/EzXxUWQ7H48)

According to Philip Kuehnen, a former D-1 tennis player who currently works in an AI based
software company, AI uses a multitude of qualitative data pertaining to the player’s matches and
trainings, such as playing patterns, heart rate, velocity, etc. and quantifies that information. It
then analyses the quantified information and finds correlations between the starting qualitative
data and the generated quantitative data.
In search of a different perspective, we came across a sports expert with over 20 years of
experience and the current CEO of Deportista AB – Robert Lindberg. Robert has been actively
involved in sports since he graduated from Örebro University in 1998. He has coached a
professional football team and currently gives scouting courses. Lindberg seems to share the
same view as De Minaur:
“It loses its charm, when you involve the technology too much. Sports to me are very natural
and raw. We have been running around kicking a ball for centuries, it is just what we do as
humans. That’s the beauty of it”.
This leads us to the topic of authenticity. In tennis as in many other sports, the rawness, the fact
that the umpire or the referee can make mistakes, contributes to the identity of the game. Having
said that, the ‘genuine feel’ might fade with the involvement of artificial intelligence, sparking a
discussion whether AI is simply an improvement or an outright threat. Besides, this technology
is still very much new, and people seem to be apprehensive and unwelcoming.
Who would have imagined that a young talent like Alex would refuse to use state-of-the-art
technology? However, after all, it might just be a matter of time. We’ve seen this happen many
times in history. For example, when Apple first launched the AirPods back in 2016, it was met
with heavy criticism, ridiculing how it looked and mocking the $159 price tag. Fast forward to
2020, its massive success in the previous years have led to a release of a new AirPods Pro model
with an even heftier price tag.
One thing is for sure though, it is still way too early to make any plausible predictions about
what to expect and when to expect it. The general public's prejudice and distrust towards this
somewhat threatening technology unquestionably hinders the integration of Artificial
Intelligence in our everyday lives. Society will have to overcome this initial fear first, if there is
ever going to be any advancement; and we need to ask ourselves: is it really necessary and do we
really want this?
“Let's not allow technology to ruin the pure essence and rawness of a real-life competitive
tennis match. Why risk it at all when it’s already perfect.” - Alex De Minaur, May 2020

Aleksandre Avalishvili | Pedro Bans Burtchaell