IBM, USTA unveil AI-powered US Open fan experiences

IBM and the USTA are rolling out a suite of AI-powered fan features for the 2026 US Open, accessible on USOpen.org and the tournament app to help fans filter content, track action, and personalize their viewing. The centerpiece is a Live Updates homepage that prioritizes a fan’s favorite players and surfaces relevant matches, stories, and insights. A new Serve Quality metric uses limb-tracking across 21 data points at high frequency to analyze serve mechanics and generate near real-time scores, with data managed by IBM Confluent to produce about 1.2 billion data points over the tournament. The update also incorporates predictive analytics and other AI-driven tools to deepen engagement beyond a scoreline, including features like Likelihood to Win and Key Moments to help fans understand what’s driving outcomes. A Morning Consult survey released with the announcement shows high fan engagement and trust in AI-powered sports content, underscoring why the US Open positions itself at the forefront of digital modernization in sports. The effort marks IBM’s long-running collaboration with the US Open since 1992, expanding the use of biomechanical tracking, natural-language features, and on-device personalization to deliver a richer, more responsive fan experience.