Virtual reality comes to live tennis thanks to business collaboration

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Experience, offered by its technology services partner Infosys, has been tested successfully and in a world first thanks to the collaboration between these companies and Sony Professional Solutions Europe, which has provided the interactive Playstation VR stands so that fans can enter a virtual and immersive tennis environment.

The collaboration between ATP, ATP Media, Infosys (ATP World Tour global technology services partner) y Sony Professional Solutions Europe has resulted in visitors to the fan zone of the O2 Arena in London experiencing the Barclays ATP World Tour tennis finals in first person and in a world premiere in a unique way in visualization and dimension within the interactive PlayStation VR stands.

An experience that has been achieved thanks to the technological integration of these companies with the functions of the Sony device, your trail camera and remote, taking interactivity while watching sports to another level, combining images of the real track, television broadcasting and virtual environments.

Data and visualizations from Infosys and Hawk-Eye offer deeper insights as the match unfolds, while fans can also participate with the inclusion of MyATP social media streams (now on Vixlet).

For the director of technology and broadcasting at ATP Media, Shane Warden, “PlayStation VR is an incredible product and we knew it would help us achieve this goal. “We wanted to replicate the feeling of being there and create an augmented experience that would allow fans to immerse themselves and interact with the finals on screen in a way never seen before.”.

Chris Mark Kermode, CEO and President of the ATP, assures that “we are looking forward to unveiling this pioneering technology to end the season at the O2 and offer a new and exciting way to experience our sport through new technologies to attract the next generation of fans”.

The incorporation of virtual reality to tennis with this solution “represents an opportunity to expand human potential not only in terms of a new dimension of viewing and understanding of the game., with leaderboards in immersive virtual reality views of the match, but also for providing players with the data and statistical analysis they need in order to increase their performance.", adds UB Pravin, Infosys Operations Manager.