International Tennis Federation delivers performance insights with Azure Databricks

Tennis is one of the world’s oldest and most universal sports, with more than 87 million players and 1.2 billion fans across the globe. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), based in the UK, runs six major global tours and 3,000 events a year providing competitive opportunities for players of all ages. ITF flagship events include the Billie Jean King Cup, Davis Cup, and the Olympic and Paralympic tennis events.

Access to accurate, detailed, high-quality data is essential to every area of ITF’s operations. Mat Pemble, Executive Director, IT, ITF, says, “Programs such as our World Tennis Number rely completely on huge volumes of player and results data to provide services and value to players and fans at all levels of the game.” 

Athletes and coaches at every level can benefit from insights into performances, but high levels of perception are particularly difficult in tennis, given the intricate nuances of matches and the dynamism of the sport. Analyzing player performance beyond surface-level statistics is vital for strategic improvements, but traditional methods of tracking matches have failed to provide actionable insights. Pemble says, “Coaches could access very high-level summary statistics on our website after matches along with a copy of the PDF scorecard. But these are more geared towards providing additional information for fans.”

Real-time stats are vital for teams to inform their in-game decisions and tactics. When every second and every point counts, technology can be an indispensable ally in providing essential information to enhance athletic performance. Players and coaches needed a comprehensive analytics tool that provided detailed metrics and allowed for a better understanding of player performance and strategic analysis.

Putting data into service

The Billie Jean King Cup permits coaching when players change ends of the court. This, combined with an increasing volume of near real-time data about players and team environment, made the competition a great fit for the development and introduction of a performance analytics application. In addition, says Pemble, “We’ve witnessed coaches’, players’, and team captains’ appetites increase for additional insight into player performance in real time.”

Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program member Valorem Reply designed and built the Billie Jean King Cup Match Insights app and the data platform supporting it; it also ensures the app runs smoothly during events. With careful planning, ITF and Valorem Reply were able to coordinate, integrate, synchronize, and combine data feeds from three different technology systems and providers.

The trailblazing app uses Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Database, and Microsoft Surface. Azure Databricks lies at the heart of the app’s data analytics capabilities. As Pemble says, “We need to combine and process large volumes of different types of data, running analytics algorithms at scale and in real time. This is what drives the insights and analysis that are presented via the Billie Jean King Cup Match Insights application. Azure Databricks is the perfect solution to deliver this effectively.”

Data privacy and security were important considerations as ITF created the new app. The data is very sensitive in terms of commercial value, but also, player performance information is personal and must be protected under international data privacy legislation (such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU). Pemble says, “It is critical that access to the data platform and the end-user application are properly protected. The Azure role-based access-control security model, along with the advanced security monitoring and protection that is standard to all Azure services, are essential to keeping access to the raw source data secure.”

The new application uses input from camera-based player and ball tracking systems to provide players and coaches with detailed metrics, enabling them to gain insights into player performance in near real time during matches. The application aims to improve the way tennis information is analyzed, offering in-depth statistics and visualizations for strategic decision-making. “We’ve heard from players that they find having the data to be very valuable because they can react faster—and the data verifies their own observations,” says Jamie Capel-Davies, Head of Science & Technical, ITF. “We’re excited to see how the teams are studying the analytics to adjust their match strategy in the moment.”

Players, coaches, and their support teams have instant access to the app on Microsoft Surface devices on-court at the benches (at change of ends), in the team zones (off-court), in their locker rooms, and since 2023, in their hotels. Teams can use the inking functionality of the Surface to personalize their insights and ensure those insights are effectively communicated to the players. “The Surface device is easy for the players, coaches, and teams to take from the locker room to the court and beyond,” says Capel-Davies.  “And the teams gain the opportunity to consult the Billie Jean King Cup Match Insights app before, during, and after matches, so they can scout their opponents, prepare their game plans, adjust their game plans in real time, and debrief."

Innovative sports technology

With the introduction of the Billie Jean King Cup Match Insights app, ITF continues its leading-edge commitment to innovation and enhancing competition with new technology. The app provides coaching insights that enable teams to be proactive. By providing all teams with the same service and data, including information for all the matches in the finals, ITF provides inclusion for every participant.

Pemble says, “With Azure, we were able to design and implement in a matter of weeks a complex and powerful data service that suits our business needs. Azure offers a variety of tools and services that make it easy to ingest, process, analyze, and visualize data from multiple sources, and to create customized applications that deliver insights and value to our most important stakeholders—our players. Azure is the best choice for data-driven innovation and transformation.”

As ITF considers its next evolution, it is working on an AI integration with Microsoft and Valorem Reply to give users in-game and match-level synopses of data accompanied by AI-generated insights. The federation is also planning to offer a fan-facing version of the app, perhaps beginning by providing app access to broadcasters.

By harnessing the power of data analytics, this app empowers tennis professionals to elevate their game, make data-driven decisions, and ultimately achieve better results on the court. Through its innovative features and actionable insights, the Billie Jean King Cup Match Insights application is set to revolutionize the way tennis is played and coached, helping ITF usher in a new era of strategic excellence in the sport.

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