Wimbledon 2026 Unveils New IBM-Powered AI Features to Personalise Fan Experience

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and IBM have announced a new set of AI-powered digital experiences for fans ahead of The Championships, Wimbledon 2026, as the tournament continues to expand its use of artificial intelligence across fan engagement and operations.

The new features, powered by IBM’s watsonx AI platform, will be available through the Wimbledon app and Wimbledon.com, both of which have undergone a major redesign to deliver a more personalised experience for global tennis audiences.

Among the key additions is Key Moments, a feature that builds on Wimbledon’s existing AI-powered Likelihood to Win tool. While the latter predicts a player’s chances of winning based on live and historical match data, Key Moments explains which specific points and events influence a match's momentum and why.

Wimbledon has also upgraded its Match Chat assistant. Fans can now ask natural language questions such as “What has happened in the match so far?” and receive instant conversational responses. Some answers will also include relevant photos and video clips. The tool is powered by IBM watsonx Orchestrate and uses multiple AI models trained on Wimbledon’s editorial style and tennis-specific language.

The new fan-facing features are supported by a large-scale modernisation of Wimbledon’s digital infrastructure. IBM used its AI-powered development accelerator, IBM Bob, to migrate more than 15,000 digital assets, including articles, videos and photographs, into a new architecture.

According to IBM, a process that would traditionally require several specialists working for months was completed by a single engineer in four weeks, while the extraction of the digital assets took just 47 minutes.

The latest announcement builds on Wimbledon’s growing use of AI over the past decade. IBM first introduced AI-powered fan features at Wimbledon in 2017, and the partnership has since evolved to include automated match insights, player analysis and predictive models. In 2025, the All England Club reported a 16% year-on-year increase in digital engagement and a 39% rise in registered myWimbledon users, highlighting the growing role of technology in attracting younger audiences.

“It’s our priority every year to remain at the pinnacle of sport and deliver the best possible guest experience,” said Usama Al-Qassab, Marketing and Commercial Director at the All England Club.

IBM’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Jonathan Adashek, noted that the new capabilities demonstrate how AI can deepen fan engagement while also improving operational efficiency.

The Championships, Wimbledon 2026 will run from June 29 to July 12, with the new AI features available through the Wimbledon app and website via IBM SlamTracker.