Australian Open’s innovative streaming move leaves tennis world divided

Tennis Australia has turned players into cartoon characters to overcome broadcasting restrictions and not everyone is loving it.

Tennis Australia has decided to turn tennis players into cartoon characters to overcome broadcasting restrictions so the Australian Open social media pages can broadcast games live, but the cheeky move has left fans divided.

On Monday night, Channel 9 – the official broadcast partner of the Australian Open – had to make the difficult choice of which two matches to show on their dedicated free-to-air TV channels.

It was a tricky decision given the fact Aussie fan favourite Nick Kyrgios, multiple-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and former World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz were all playing at the same time.

The network ultimately opted to go with the Aussie and Djokovic leaving viewers wanting to watch the No.1 Spaniard the choice of coughing up $27 a month for Stan Sport or tuning in to a unique YouTube channel.

As the four-time Grand Slam winner got his campaign underway against Alexander Shevchenko, many fans looking for a way to watch him stumbled across a weird and wacky live stream of the match.

Throughout the Australian Open, the Australian Open YouTube account broadcasts several games.

But due to not having broadcast rights, the catch is the players all appear as cartoon versions of themselves similar to those that were whipped up on Wii Sports.

You can watch the cartoon version of Nick Kyrgios competing in the video above

The AI technology used allows for the broadcast to mimic the exact same points played out and even captures unique player movements such as wiping the sweat off their foreheads and stretching out a tight calf.

However, the players’ character depictions were far from perfect with some fully-haired players appearing to be balding, others having darker skin colour and holes in their clothing and others temporarily having there racquet completely disappear, as you can see in the video at the top of the page.

Television commentary is also played over the animation, as is the live crowd reaction and chair umpire calls.

Tennis reporter Bastien Fachan stumbled across the stream himself and he promptly took to X to write: “The Australian Open don’t own all of their broadcasting rights (fairly common), so they’re live-streaming a Wii Tennis-like version of the matches on YouTube - love this.”

It is an extraordinary use of technology and by the end of Monday night, some fans who were watching Kyrgios struggle against Brit Jacob Fearnley had even switched over to the cartoon version of the Aussie.

“This is the best kinda live,” one YouTube user wrote.

Another said: “Can’t believe I’m watching this match animated”.

Although not everyone was a fan of the technology.

The cartoon version of Nick Kyrgios featured him grasping at his injured ab muscle, however his racquet had disappeared from view. Image: Getty/YouTube

Novak Djokovic was looking a little different when fans tuned in to his first round match on YouTube. Image: Australian Open YouTube

“Tried it briefly, had to turn it off. Could they make the players look even a little more like the players they are supposed to represent??? Even the animations were not smooth. It was a mess,” one person wrote on X.

While another commented on the YouTube live of the Kyrgios match: “What the hell is this?? Why can’t we watch normal?? This is utterly ridiculous.”

A third chimed in: “What on earth is the point of this? Drawing attention to broadcasting rights being a farce?”

The Aussie Open YouTube account trialled a similar technology last year, however, the animations were far less lifelike like and it appeared more like a simulation than an accurate portrayal of the real-life points.

But the animated version provides a loophole around the rights issue, while also having the added bonus of appealing to a younger audience.

The NFL Nickelodeon game showed off some interesting features aimed at a younger audience.

It is another example of animation of sports games which has been seen in increasing frequency overseas.

The NFL recently produced a Nickelodeon-themed broadcast of a match, with players made into unique characters.

We’ve also seen Homer Simpson and the rest of his family play an NFL game on Disney+.

The NHL also had a match featuring Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes stars, while the NBA used iconic Disney characters, including mickey mouse and Donald Duck as part of a Christmas Day broadcast.

News.com.au has contacted Channel 9 and Tennis Australia for comment.

Originally published as Australian Open’s innovative streaming move leaves tennis world divided