If you’ve caught any live coverage of the 2025 Australian Open on YouTube this week, you may have noticed that the players looked a bit funny. To provide tennis fans with a level of access that was previously unavailable, the Australian Open has gone live with streams that replace the 128 competitors with animated avatars.
The streams can be found under the “Live” tab on Australian Open TV, the official YouTube home of the annual Melbourne-set tournament. The players aren’t the only odd-looking part of the broadcasts. The ball is bigger than normal, the fans and court officials are completely still, and the audio is piped in from the TV feed.
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If you’ve spent much time around the Nintendo Wii, you’ll notice that the animated players resemble the big-headed avatars from Wii Sports Tennis, one of the most-played video games of all time. But these streams serve a greater purpose than nostalgia, no matter how strong those feelings may be.
By taking the on-court action in a Wii Sports direction, the Australian Open is using technological innovations to get around rebroadcast rules. The rising adoption of AI has led to the launch of alternative sports streams, which can put the Simpsons onto an NFL field or give creators a space where they can dissect game action alongside fans.
The Australian Open media team recognized that those left-field broadcasts offered more than just opportunities to reach new audience segments. They also allow rights holders to show on-court action without actually showing it. The Australian Open’s TV partners still get their exclusive coverage, and the fans get 24/7 access to one of the year’s four Grand Slam events.
In the tennis world, that access is a pretty big deal. While other sports leagues have embraced digital platforms with revenue sharing programs and other opportunities for creators, the ATP and WTA Tours have left viewers frustrated. Grand Slams like the French Open offer brief highlight reels for epic matches that last for multiple hours.
The animated streams are here to change that narrative. They’re particularly useful for tennis fans in the West, who can now catch the Australian Open without staying up until the middle of the night.
Given the current popularity of marathon streams on platforms like YouTube and Twitch, tennis — with its slow pace and strategic intricacies — should be well-positioned to become the next big sport on the internet (move over, golf). The Australian Open just has to make sure that its animated broadcasts don’t look too much like Wii Sports. If they do, Nintendo might come calling.
