Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Many brands use the U.S. Open to entertain clients or put up flashy signage. IBM does both, but its involvement goes much deeper. Behind the scenes, the century-old tech titan is the invisible hand shaping the fan experience, powering the U.S. Open app, and engaging 14 million fans worldwide. In the process, IBM is making the case that sports might be the perfect playground for AI integration.
The servers behind each serve
From a fan’s perspective, it seems simple. You open the app, check the score and maybe watch a highlight or two. But making that experience work requires IBM and the USTA to process a mountain of data in real time, using AI alongside human review to balance speed and accuracy. One new metric, Serve Quality, analyzes 21 data points across a player’s body and racquet 50 times per second, generating roughly 4.6 million data points per match and more than 1.2 billion throughout the tournament. And then there’s the match chat, an AI bot that lets users ask conversational questions about the sport, like “what is the record for x?”
Users appear to be embracing these features, if the numbers are any indication: More than 14 million unique devices engaged with U.S. Open digital platforms in 2025, generating nearly 47 million visits, up 19% year over year.
So why does the USTA need IBM to help run a tennis tournament? To understand that, you have to recognize that the U.S. Open isn’t simply a sporting event. It’s a massive, temporary business operation with millions of customers, enormous amounts of data, and a three-week deadline. That comes with a litany of challenges, from security and bandwidth to content production and infrastructure, that require the scale and experience of a company like IBM.
The USTA is a few-hundred-person team that’s expected to scale monumentally during those three weeks each year. With IBM’s help, however, it can deploy AI-powered tools to streamline infrastructure management, optimize costs, enhance content production workflows, and improve operational resilience. For example, the USTA’s small editorial team uses bespoke AI tools to generate match summaries, which humans then review and edit, increasing the team’s content production capacity by 300%.
On top of that, an operation as large as the U.S. Open comes with major security risks, and IBM plays a key role in deterring them. According to a spokesperson, IBM protects against nearly 500 million suspicious requests targeting the USTA’s infrastructure and digital platforms. Its AI agents help identify, categorize and prioritize potential threats, allowing the team to respond faster and better protect the USTA’s assets.
Rallying fans around the world
At the heart of this year’s experience is the all-new Live Updates homepage, a smarter, more personalized way for fans to follow the action that matters most. Fans can prioritize their favorite players and quickly zero in on the matches, insights and stories they care about most. From the World Cup to the NBA Finals, this summer has made one thing clear: demand for sports is exploding, but stadium seats aren’t.
For the millions of fans who can’t afford to attend the tournament or live too far away to travel to New York, these digital experiences let them feel closer to the action.
Here are some of the other new features in the U.S. Open app this year:
- Match Chat: An AI-powered assistant that lets fans ask free-text questions about live matches and receive instant answers and insights based on match statistics, player information, historical performance, and tournament data. Responses are generated using AI agents and models trained in the USTA’s editorial style and the language of tennis.
- Live Likelihood to Win: A real-time predictive feature that continuously updates each player’s chances of winning as a match unfolds, using live scores, statistics, and expert analysis. The AI-powered visual representation shows how match momentum is shifting in real time, essentially serving as the heartbeat of the match.
- Key Moments: A generative AI feature within Live Likelihood to Win that goes a layer deeper, explaining why a player’s chances of winning changed by identifying the points, rallies, and sequences that had the biggest impact on match momentum.
While much has been made of the public’s skepticism toward AI, an IBM study found that sports fans have been fairly receptive. The IBM 2026 Sports Survey found that 80% of fans see value in AI-powered sports experiences, particularly real-time statistics, personalized content and translation. Among tennis fans, 64% said they trust AI-generated sports content.
The study also highlights the importance of having a strong digital presence. IBM found that 73% of tennis fans surveyed use sports apps. In comparison, 91% use them during live events, making a reliable, real-time digital experience increasingly important to how fans consume and engage with sports.
Image Credit: IBM
Playing the long game
The U.S. Open isn’t IBM’s only sports play. The company is also involved with the UFC, the Masters, and Wimbledon, where it runs similar programs, powering digital platforms and handling data for each respective event. But IBM’s sports strategy extends beyond working with some of the world’s biggest events. It’s also looking at the grassroots level of sports and the startups building its future.
Earlier this year, the USTA launched the inaugural USTA Connect Innovation Challenge, a nationwide open call for tech innovators, engineers and startups to build the next high-impact digital solution for tennis. Selected participants receive access to USTA and U.S. Open data sets to power their prototypes, and a panel that includes USTA representatives, venture capitalists, and an IBM team member evaluates submissions. The top three finalists receive fully funded travel to the USTA Connect event at the 2026 U.S. Open to pitch their ideas, while the grand-prize winner receives $10,000 and exposure across the USTA ecosystem.
More recently, IBM launched the IBM Sports Tech Startup Challenge, which will give founders opportunities to showcase their solutions at Web Summit events in Rio, Vancouver and Lisbon, as well as alongside major tech events including a16z Tech Week in New York and San Francisco. The initiative gives startups a platform to pitch their ideas to audiences at the intersection of sports, technology, and entrepreneurship.
From quietly shaping the fan experience behind the scenes to seeking out the next generation of sports innovators, IBM is proving that even the world’s biggest companies are taking sports seriously. And entrepreneurs should, too.
Many brands use the U.S. Open to entertain clients or put up flashy signage. IBM does both, but its involvement goes much deeper. Behind the scenes, the century-old tech titan is the invisible hand shaping the fan experience, powering the U.S. Open app, and engaging 14 million fans worldwide. In the process, IBM is making the case that sports might be the perfect playground for AI integration.
The servers behind each serve
From a fan’s perspective, it seems simple. You open the app, check the score and maybe watch a highlight or two. But making that experience work requires IBM and the USTA to process a mountain of data in real time, using AI alongside human review to balance speed and accuracy. One new metric, Serve Quality, analyzes 21 data points across a player’s body and racquet 50 times per second, generating roughly 4.6 million data points per match and more than 1.2 billion throughout the tournament. And then there’s the match chat, an AI bot that lets users ask conversational questions about the sport, like “what is the record for x?”
Users appear to be embracing these features, if the numbers are any indication: More than 14 million unique devices engaged with U.S. Open digital platforms in 2025, generating nearly 47 million visits, up 19% year over year.
