For most, it is undisputed: Wimbledon is the biggest tennis tournament on the planet and the economic impact it has upon south London remains huge.
From sprawling crowds of tennis fans, through to multi-million pound housing developments, south London generally benefits from the two weeks of tennis taking place at SW19 every year.
Whilst not every resident within the community is a huge fan of Wimbledon and the chaos that ensues once the first ball is hit in anger, it is in the main a positive experience for an area of London that continues to grow exponentially.
Like many major sporting events, however, Wimbledon is keen to get on board with the technological revolution – a far cry from the strawberries and cream and all white clothing the tournament is synonymous with.
Sports in general have become huge business outlets to tech companies, as they provide a platform to showcase their product and in turn, can enable their innovations to reach a wider audience.
One of the key innovations being used at Wimbledon remains HawkEye – the revolutionary line monitoring service, which can help the umpire make their decision whether the ball was in or out.
Whilst this adds a sense of intrigue for the paying spectator, the key benefit of HawkEye is the removal of human error from every call made on a tennis court – creating a fairer playing field for all.
In addition to HawkEye, Wimbledon has also been developing their statistical output hugely over the past few years, together with tech giant IBM.
Being able to have stats on the way in which a point is won can be hugely beneficial for tennis players and coaches, as they seek out the small percentiles that can enable them to taste glory at SW19.
From a fan’s perspective too, having a more holistic approach to tennis stats can enable viewers to become more informed with the game in hand, and it can also be beneficial for tennis fans that enjoy betting on the action.
As a tournament, Wimbledon hasn’t exactly been quick to embrace the social media revolution – with output on the various Wimbledon social media channels previously having a rather formal tone.
However, in more recent times, Wimbledon have looked to capture the mood of the consumer, as they seek out behind the scenes clips and footage, bringing viewers closer to the action.
The effective use of a video editor used at Wimbledon enables followers to get a look behind the curtain at the oldest tennis tournament in the world, which in turn could open the game of tennis (and Wimbledon itself) to a whole new audience.
Featured image credit: Spiralz via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0 licence
.jpg){kind=link}