Digital Technology is Driving Tennis Experience Beyond the 'Golden Era'

Melbourne, Australia (ots/PRNewswire) - Inclusion, access, experimentation and
the social element will be key drivers as Tennis ushers in a new Era

Tennis Radar: The Next Big Era, a report by the Infosys Knowledge Institute
(IKI) (https://www.infosys.com/about/knowledge-institute.html), the research and
thought leadership arm of Infosys (http://www.infosys.com/) (NYSE: INFY), the
global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting found that
tennis must embrace new inclusive experiences, powered by technology and
analytics to engage the next generation of fans. The research surveyed 3,000
tennis fans globally and interviewed with prominent organisers, coaches,
professional players, industry influencers and media. Infosys is the digital
innovation partner of ATP Tour, Australian Open and Roland Garros.

The drive and need for access and inclusion

Tennis participation has grown 10 percent globally in the last 5 years. Tennis
has successfully expanded to and has reached new players and audiences across
the globe. However, despite this new found reach, experts of the game suggest
that there's a large untapped pool who may never watch or play tennis because
they think it's "exclusive" and "difficult to play".

The report found that tennis is becoming more accessible through experimentation
at all levels, from grassroots to grand slams and through fantasy leagues,
Esports and technology like virtual reality that bring new fans to tennis.
Nearly a quarter of the players globally come from China (23 percent), yet the
country has only 10 percent of the world's tennis courts and only a few clubs,
stifling potential growth in a sports market tipped to reach $470 billion by
2025.

While China averages 393 players per court, at the other end of the scale France
averages just 87, Australia 104 and Germany 122. The report also found tennis
fans are aging, and the average age of tennis fans - in the West, at least - is
higher than the average age of the population.

Data analytics and digital technology: creating a level playing field

At the elite level, the research found equal access to detailed player and match
data analytics. The report references Infosys' StatsLounge, democratising match
data for all players and coaches to analyse their performance, examining crucial
match stats using sophisticated filters to generate video clips from more than
1,000 data combinations. But it's not just players and coaches who are hungry
for data. The report found fans also seek more detailed match and player
insights with the rise of second screen viewing.

The age of experiences

The report found that like all consumer products, tennis is no longer a discrete
activity, it's an experience - consisting of dispersed, shareable micro-moments
both on and off the court.

Recent research by Tennis Australia found the 'fun' aspect of the Australian
Open atmosphere as the second-most important factor for attendance for people
under 50. "At the Australian Open we are crystal clear what has led to us
trebling our business in 5 years. Taking a Grand Slam tennis tournament and
adding to it has expanded our audience into new segments and geographies. But
you have to commit. We take our 'families' business, our music festival and our
food vertical as seriously as we do our tennis. If you don't, it doesn't
succeed," said Richard Heaselgrave, Chief Revenue and Experiential Officer.

Technology driving growth of Tennis

While tennis in recent years has seen multiple formats and innovations trialed
at different levels of the sport, fans across all age groups, including GenZ (84
percent) and millennials (85 percent), said match length is not a primary
barrier to engagement with the sport. The report identified opportunities to
introduce new fans to the sport globally with analytics-based and virtual and
augmented reality technologies.

Analytics-based experiences improve enjoyment for 83 percent of fans surveyed
according to the Tennis Radar research. For example, fans at the Australian Open
can play against the greatest tennis players in the world using VR and AR
technology - in a simulated Rod Laver arena, the Australian Open's centre court.
More than 125,000 fans have engaged with Infosys VR at the Australian Open,
Roland-Garros, and Nitto ATP Finals and other ATP events. Similarly,
Roland-Garros plans to involve pros from the Esports area within the
Roland-Garros eSeries, to tighten the link between real-world and virtual-world
tennis fans.

Experience Index

To understand how data and analytics impact fan enjoyment of the game, the
Infosys Knowledge Institute created the Analytics Experience Index, synthesizing
fan response to multidimensional questions about match technologies, player
statistics and game data.

The Index found that analytics improves fan enjoyment, particularly among
younger and more tech savvy audiences. Over a third (38 percent) of 18-22 year
olds were identified as the highest category of tennis technology and analytics
'Enthusiasts', compared to just 13 percent of those 55 and older.

"At Roland-Garros, we believe innovation, social technology and analytics-based
experiences have a key role to play to make tennis more accessible and more
engaging to the existing and new generations of tennis fans and our partnership
with Infosys will ensure the Roland-Garros DNA remains true to our roots but can
also evolve and be future ready," said Michael Tonge, Director of Sponsorship,
hospitality and ticketing, FFT.

Social technologies are also helping tennis grow, including at the club level,
with apps like Tennis Connect, where users can schedule courts and invite others
to play. Similarly, Tennis Australia's Book a Court platform enables people to
book a court anywhere, anytime, and pay via mobile phone. France's FFT launched
Ten' Up in April 2019 and has over 200,000 downloads. U.B. Pravin Rao, Chief
Operating Officer, Infosys, said "Tennis doesn't resonate with people if access
to playing and watching the game isn't made easy. Infosys is proud to be a
digital innovation partner of the ATP Tour, Australian Open and Roland-Garros.
This research reinforces that tennis can become even more successful if it can
increase access to playing, watching, and understanding the game, and to do
that, technology - especially social technology and analytics-based experiences
- will play a vital role."

For a full copy of the report, please visit
https://www.infosys.com/navigate-your-next/research/tennis-radar-report.html

Notes to Editors

*Wimbledon.com
(https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/about_wimbledon/prize_money_and_finance.html),
USOpen.org (https://www.usopen.org/en_US/visit/prize_money.html),
RollandGarros.com (https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/roland-garros-2019
-new-prize-money-tournament-revealed), Ausopen.com (https://ausopen.com/articles
/news/record-625-million-prize-money-australian-open-2019)

Survey Methodology

In October 2019, the Infosys Knowledge Institute used an anonymous format to
conduct an online survey of 3,085 tennis fans from eight countries -- Australia,
China, France, Germany, India, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To enrich insights, we also conducted phone interviews with more than 30
stakeholders representing player, coach, event organizer, club owner, equipment
manufacturer, media, and broadcaster perspectives.

About Infosys

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transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise
navigate your next.

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