Australian Open avatars helping tennis reach new audience

The proposition is compelling: near-live, commentated coverage of the Australian Open, free to anyone across the world via YouTube, enhanced via a stream of comments from a like-minded online community.Put like that, it’s no surprise a project called AO Animated has taken off at this year’s grand slam tournament at Melbourne Park. The catch? The players, ball and court are all computer-generated.That hasn’t dissuaded hundreds of thousands of viewers from tuning into this vision of the Australian Open, featuring video game-like avatars but using real-world data in an emerging category of sports broadcasting helping tennis reach new fans.The loophole allows the Australian Open to show a version of live events at the tournament on its own channels, despite having sold lucrative exclusive broadcast rights to partners across the globe

Boulter seals British history at Australian Open with six players into round two

Six British players have won their first-round matches at the Australian Open for the first time in history after Katie Boulter held her nerve in the tense final stages of a difficult contest against Rebecca Marino of Canada to a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win.“It’s awesome to have some positivity coming out around British tennis,” said Boulter. “It’s been coming for a long time. It’s just the beginning. I really think these girls and guys have been working so hard, and everyone deserves a bit of credit

Australian Open 2025: Boulter and De Minaur through, but Rublev crashes out – as it happened

Otherwise, though, that is us. Thanks for your company and comments; please do join me again tomorrow at 8am GMT for another absolute jazzer of a night sesh. But until then, peace out.So to sum up the day before we finish, there were wins for Emma Navarro, Holger Rune, Daria Kasartkina, Daniil Medvedev, Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz; Madison Keys, Jasmine Paolini and Alex de Minaur also moved on. Mario Berrettini beat Cam Norrie and Gael Monfils eliminated Geovani Mpetshi Perricard; Ben Shelton saw off Brandon Nakashima; Ons Jabeur and katie Boulter are through; and Joao Fonseca, an 18-year-old Brazilian making his grand slam debut, routed Andrey Rublev, the number nine seed

The Breakdown | Warren Gatland bids for one last miracle before 150th game with Wales

The lyrics of that old Kenny Rogers favourite The Gambler sprang to mind as Warren Gatland sat down in Wales’s team hotel this week to explain his desire to stay on as head coach. “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away …” Approaching his 18th Six Nations campaign – he has been involved in 13 previous ones with Wales and four with Ireland – Gatland is clearly not ready to abandon all hope just yet.There is a fair amount of professional pride involved too. Plus the enduring stubbornness of a competitor who, unlike Tyson Fury, still feels he has some unfinished business. While Wales may have lost 12 consecutive games, the key to Gatland’s coaching longevity remains his enduring belief that the next game is always winnable

Kim Birrell reduced to tears after late change of opponent ends in Australian Open defeat

Australia’s top-ranked women’s player Kim Birrell was driven to tears in the aftermath of a shock straight sets defeat to an opponent she only found out she was playing minutes before her round-one clash at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.Lucky loser Eva Lys made the most of an unlikely opportunity in a 6-2, 6-2 victory, receiving a call-up immediately before the Australian Open match on Kia Arena that lasted just 70 minutes.Birrell – who survived qualifiers and is ranked No 101 in the world – said she was affected by the 11th-hour switch in opponent due to the withdrawal of No 13 seed Anna Kalinskaya. “To find out that she withdrew and that I was playing someone completely different, it did rattle me unfortunately,” she said.“It felt like it just got away from me

‘He’s still that good’: Rahm says García can still have big Ryder Cup impact

Jon Rahm has welcomed Sergio García back to the DP World Tour fold and said his Spanish compatriot remains one of the best players in the world who can have a big impact on Europe’s Ryder Cup ambitions later this year.García’s switch to the LIV circuit and subsequent resignation from the DP World Tour appeared to close the door on an iconic Ryder Cup career for the 45-year-old. However, García rejoined the DP World Tour in November, paying around £1m in fines, in a bid to make a dramatic Ryder Cup return at Bethpage. According to Rahm, his fellow Spaniard is still one of Europe’s top dozen players.“For people that see him any given day, Sergio García can a can hit it tee-to-green better than anybody on the planet,” said Rahm