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Australian Open ‘gamifies’ players in the face of TV limits

Australia gamifies
Carlos Alcaraz, ramificado / CAPTURA DE PANTALLA
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MELBOURNE – Anyone remember wii Sports? Well, anyone who’s forgotten it can recapture the memory these days at the Australian Open, which ‘gamifies’ its players for live matches.

It happens every day at the first Grand Slam of the year, which runs until 26 January, but it was especially striking in the case of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.

Many Australians found it impossible to watch him on television in his Monday debut. Channel 9, which broadcasts the tournament for a tennis-loving country, had to choose between Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios, and there was room for only two, only two channels to broadcast live.

Nicolas Jarry, gamified in his match against Jannik Sinner / SCREEN CAPTURE

Alcaraz was thus sent to a platform, Stan, that charges $27 per month, something that much of the public, no matter how much they love tennis, is not willing to pay.

The solution was Alcaraz’s ‘gamification’. The official YouTube channel of the Australian Open offered that night, with just two minutes of delay on the real playing time, a ‘gamified’ version of the duel between Alcaraz and Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko. And for free, of course.

It’s not that the Australian Open doesn’t have full TV rights to all the matches being played, as was wrongly claimed on social media. No, it’s that no one offers all the matches for free anymore. There are a few live on free-to-air television. And for the rest you have to pay. Or, if it’s Australia, watch gamified players.

One thing was striking: Alcaraz is causing a sensation with the muscles he has gained in recent weeks, so much so that after Wednesday’s victory he was asked at the stadium if he put up new mirrors in his house to admire his changed physique.

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‘Some, yes,’ said the ever-smiling Spaniard, whose wii Sports 2025 version has very slender arms.

The system works by optically tracking 12 sensors that capture information from 29 points on the players’ bodies. Wii Sports is the heir to Mario’s Tennis, which was played on the handheld Virtual Boy.

Who would come up with such a thing? The novelty is the brainchild of Machar Reid, Director of Innovation at Tennis Australia, the Australian Tennis Federation.

Wii’s Kasidit Samrej (the surprising Thai player that gave Medvedev some trouble) hits a forehand / SCREEN CAPTURE

Innovation generates love or loathing, there seems to be no middle ground. And one of those in favour is Alcaraz himself.

‘For me it’s a good alternative, I think it’s funny,’ said the Spaniard to a question from CLAY after the 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka that installed him in the third round.

‘I’ve seen some videos especially of my character in certain points and I think it’s funny. So for me it’s been a good alternative for those people who want to watch tennis and can’t, for people who can’t afford it, who can’t pay for the match.’

The gamified players include a furious Daniil Medvedev slamming his racket to the net’s camera. That is exactly what happened during the match in question. Real tennis. Or not.

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