Tennis fans, especially those hooked on the Open tournaments, are able to enjoy a season of top-flight games almost a year-long, beginning with the Australian Open in January and ending with the US Open in September. Many more events – whether individual tournaments or internationals – are sandwiched in between.
Whether it’s Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner or the legendary Novak Djokovic in the men’s tournaments, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff in the women’s, the level of individual talent rises constantly. These improvements are attributable to the amazing natural talents of the athletes, combined with the best coaching the sport can offer. The right coach can make all the difference between being a player and being a champion.
While elite-level coaches are still very much the preserve of elite-level players, the ability to improve natural talent through tennis coaching is open to players at all levels. Looking to level this playing field further is Norwegian B2B sports technology company SportAI.
Founded in late 2023 by tech and software industry experts Lauren Pedersen (CEO), Felipe Longé (chief technology officer) and Trond Kittelsen (head of commercial), the company’s basic mission is to enhance tennis technique through tactical analysis, coaching and commentary. With expertise in computer vision and machine learning, SportAI looks to use artificial intelligence (AI) to offer instant data-driven insights to training facilities, teams, broadcasters, retailers and equipment brands. Still in its early days, the company has raised $3.6m in funding to date.
For the love of tennis
The company’s management combines technology expertise and a passion for tennis. In addition to extensive experience growing global tech firms, Pederson competed in NCAA Division 1 college tennis and represented Norway at the 2023 ITF Tennis Masters World Championships. As well as being an entrepreneur and sports technology product expert, Kittelsen was CEO of Sevensix Tennis, the provider of an app designed to analyse tennis technique to help players upgrade their game by comparing their technique to that of a professional player.
Kittelsen describes the team as tennis “nerds”, watching all the games and following all the stats. But on a serious note, he insists the company is on a mission to democratise all the insight for everyone, and to do that, it needed a great tech team comprising machine learning engineers, AI experts, mathematicians, and experts in physics and physiology. Added to these are people with a proven track record in commerce.
Pedersen is adamant that with her company’s solution, insight into how to play tennis effectively can now be delivered cost-effectively and in a way that is comparable to the likes of Strava and Fitbit for runners. She notes that until now, a vast number of participants, without access to complicated technology, could play many games of tennis, yet not have any idea about how they had hit shots or how to improve.
The basic principle of the SportAI platform is that every movement a tennis player makes matters. After taking in video of tennis action – by using a standard mobile device such as an iPhone, sophisticated TV setups, or court-mounted cameras – the software uses machine learning and biomechanical analysis to build detailed 3D visuals of playing style. Once ingested into the SportAI system, data is uploaded to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, analysed and made available in seconds.
The SportAI app uses computer vision to check a player’s limbs and joints, tracking movement and the load on the racquet during shots and the follow-through of the racket after the ball impact
The app uses computer vision to check a player’s limbs and joints, tracking movement and the load on the racket during shots and the follow-through of the racket after the ball impact. It can measure biomechanics, swing curve, power generation and where the players hit the ball. It shows clearly the kinetic chain in making a shot – that is the sequence of shot creation from hip, shoulder and wrist position – generating an analysis from which it’s possible to see what needs to be improved.
For example, ball speed is a function of wrist speed, and the SportAI app can generate a swing curve, comparing it to that of a professional player. The AI within the app can display the velocity and rotation of hips and shoulders. All of this can be used by coaches to improve performance.
The SportAI app can measure wrist and racket speed, and generate a swing curve, comparing it to that of a professional player
The subsequent data generated can be provided to individuals or to sports federations, academies, or equipment providers and manufacturers to see how people play and what can be done to improve technique. The data can also be compared with that of elite players to receive personalised improvement recommendations.
The analysis can also automatically jump to key points if there is something specific to focus on. Stats could include how many forehand shots a player hits in a given time, or they can generate highlights such as the longest rally in a game or action with the highest intensity.
The SportAI software uses machine learning and biomechanical analysis to build detailed 3D visuals of playing style
“If you take a tennis lesson today, it might cost $100 an hour anywhere in the world. And you might have a good coach, [but even if] you had three or four good coaches looking at your serve feedback, there would be no data to back it up. Now, with advances in computer vision and machine learning, you could change that,” says Pedersen.
“So instead of having to have sensors on your body to track movement and biomechanical analysis, now almost every pixel on the video starts to become something you can use to track and gather data from, and then use that [data] to power different experiences and feedback,” she adds.
SportAI aims to enhance tennis player technique through tactical analysis, coaching and commentary
“[Manufacturers] are potential customers for us to take on this type of technology. Sensors themselves are just not scalable – you would either have to put them on a body or on a racket. It is not as scalable as being able to have a video that can come from a mobile phone or from court-mounted cameras, [which] are becoming more common around the world.”
The SportAI business model is mass market and relies on subscription, available to individuals, federations or equipment manufacturers. Kittelsen adds that manufacturers are particularly interested in the biomechanics information that the video can generate.
“[The video can] track the rotations, the speed and the height of the ball, the precision of the ball. [Manufacturers] do not have a lot of data on biomechanics, and so now we can help them with that. It’s not just looking at the result of hitting the ball; it’s looking at how you get that result, and how you improve the swing. And instead of then [just asking] players how the racket felt, we can understand [how they perform] with data,” says Pedersen.
From Hawk-Eye to AI
In an expression of the confidence it has in the system, SportAI says in testing, it had a player serving a ball and captured data using a standard phone with a standard camera at 30 frames a second at 1080px resolution. This had 98% precision compared with data generated using Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking technology that is currently used at all the major tennis tournaments.
Yet despite the high-tech involved, Pedersen also emphasises clearly that the solution is for everybody. “This is not just about supporting the top, elite players, because the elite players will often have a performance analyst coach on their team who’s manually doing this on video and can deliver it. But the other 90-something million tennis players typically have no access to this data, so we want coaches and players around the world to get it,” she says.
“It’s sort of universal how you create power around [shots], and [knowledge of that] is something we see that recreation players and beginner players [would want]. It’s super motivating to want to get better. And when you have some ground data, you can go out and improve. People then want to go back on court because they want to get better,” adds Pedersen.
In terms of development challenges, the company says a number of business and technical issues have had to come together to get the company to where it is. In addition to gaining investment, the company has had to educate its market by showing coaches and players how they can use the technology and how it can be simultaneously better for both of them.
AI is becoming a commodity – everyone is using AI in some form. Yes, it can make mistakes, but you can still train it to be smarter and better. We see it as a tool to help and assist tennis coaches Lauren Pedersen, SportAI
“In all businesses, in all verticals, there’s scepticism. It was the same with Hawk-Eye. Ten years ago, nobody believed Hawk-Eye to be accurate enough. Now they’re accepting it. That’s going to happen with AI. AI is becoming a commodity – everyone is using AI in some form. Yes, it can make mistakes, but you can still train it to be smarter and better. We see it as a tool to help and assist coaches. It’s not taking their place, because, like you see in other industries, it becomes much more effective and efficient, and makes better decisions.”
According to Kittelsen, one surprise the company found using AI in its system was discovering its basic power, how just a single camera with coded AI algorithms can detect and display complex rotations and velocities. “But also, I want to add that the AI is still doing [some things] wrong, so we have to teach it. We have to teach the machine to take away the error percentages. And with the new cameras [on new phones], the quality of video goes up. The processors are faster.”
Acing video capture
The rest of 2025 will see SportAI rolling out the system for its first customers. The company believes it is being helped by tennis clubs increasingly mounting cameras around their courts, aided by the more powerful and cheaper cameras on phones, resulting in better quality video being more accessible for clubs and federations.
The company has also forged a partnership with the Matchi booking system for racket sports venues worldwide. Matchi currently manages about 15,000 tennis courts, 2,000 of them camera-enabled. SportAI will be taking in video streams from these courts to analyse action. It is also working with some equipment brands to generate technique analysis and offer equipment recommendations.
A key technical development for the company will be moving from cloud processing of data to performing data processing at the network edge. In addition to cost savings, this is intended to make it even faster to analyse data and add the capability to perform 3D video analysis. There will also be work on creating AI agents that can be attached to the app, which could be aligned to a federation or an individual player.
Pederson is adamant that SportAI is in business for the long run, and that the data the app picks up could also be useful for injury prevention and healthcare in general. For example, it could show how players’ joints bend and flag any extreme styles that could lead to injury. “Our vision is to democratise access to this type of data. It’s about seeing that value happen worldwide. We’re passionate about sports and technology. We want to see the most kind of progressive coaches, academies and brands taking it on board and really changing the game.”
There is concern that subscribers might be negatively affected if Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and movie studios businesses. One of the biggest fears is that the merger would lead to higher prices due to less competition for Netflix.
During a US Senate hearing Tuesday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos suggested that the merger would have an opposite effect.
Sarandos aimed to convince the subcommittee that Netflix wouldn’t become a monopoly in streaming or in movie and TV production if regulators allowed its acquisition to close. Netflix is the largest subscription video-on-demand provider by subscribers (301.63 million as of January 2025), and Warner Bros. Discovery is the third (128 million streaming subscribers, including users of HBO Max and, to a smaller degree, Discovery+).
Speaking at the hearing, Sarandos said: “Netflix and Warner Bros. both have streaming services, but they are very complementary. In fact, 80 percent of HBO Max subscribers also subscribe to Netflix. We will give consumers more content for less.”
During the hearing, Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota asked Sarandos how Netflix can ensure that streaming remains “affordable” after a merger, especially after Netflix issued a price hike in January 2025 despite adding more subscribers.
Sarandos said the streaming industry is still competitive. The executive claimed that previous Netflix price hikes have come with “a lot more value” for subscribers.
“We are a one-click cancel, so if the consumer says, ‘That’s too much for what I’m getting,’ they can cancel with one click,” Sarandos said.
When pressed further on pricing, the executive argued that the merger doesn’t pose “any concentration risk” and that Netflix is working with the US Department of Justice on potential guardrails against more price hikes.
Sarandos claimed that the merger would “create more value for consumers.” However, his idea of value isn’t just about how much subscribers pay to stream but about content quality. By his calculations, which he provided without further details, Netflix subscribers spend an average of 35 cents per hour of content watched, compared to 90 cents for Paramount+.
The Netflix stat is similar to one provided by MoffettNathanson in January 2025, finding that in the prior quarter, on average, Netflix generated 34 cents in subscription fees per hour of content viewed per subscriber. At the time, the research firm said Paramount+ made an average of 76 cents per hour of content viewed per subscriber.
Downplaying Monopoly Concerns
Netflix views Warner as “both a competitor and a supplier,” Sarandos said when subcommittee chair Republican senator Mike Lee of Utah asked why Netflix wants to buy WB’s film studios, per Variety. The streaming executive claimed that Netflix’s “history is about adding more and more” content and choice.
During the hearing, Sarandos argued that streaming is a competitive business and pointed to Google, Apple, and Amazon as “deep-pocketed tech companies trying to run away with the TV business.” He tried to downplay concerns that Netflix could become a monopoly by emphasizing YouTube’s high TV viewership. Nielsen’s The Gauge tracker shows which platforms Americans use most when using their TVs (as opposed to laptops, tablets, or other devices). In December, it said that YouTube, not including YouTube TV, had more TV viewership (12.7 percent) than any other streaming video-on-demand service, including second-place Netflix (9 percent). Sarandos claimed that Netflix would have 21 percent of the streaming market if it merged with HBO Max.
Some children affected by measles in the ongoing South Carolina outbreak have developed a serious complication of the disease called encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said on Wednesday.
The South Carolina measles outbreak began in October with a handful of infections. As of February 3, cases have climbed to 876, with 700 of those being reported since the beginning of the year. The surge could mean another bad year of measles for the United States, which had more than 2,267 cases—the highest in 30 years—in 2025. Declining vaccination rates across the country are driving the resurgence.
Encephalitis is a rare but severe complication of measles that can lead to convulsions and cause deafness or intellectual disability in children. It usually occurs within 30 days of an initial measles infection and can happen if the brain becomes infected with the virus or if an immune reaction to the virus causes inflammation in the brain. Among children who get measles encephalitis, 10 to 15 percent die.
It’s not known how many children in South Carolina have developed this serious complication. Under state law, measles cases must be reported to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, but measles hospitalizations and complications do not need to be disclosed.
“We don’t comment on the outcomes of individuals, but we do know that inflammation of the brain, or encephalitis, is a known complication of measles,” Bell told reporters during a media briefing on Wednesday. “Anytime you have inflammation of the brain, there can be long-term consequences, things like developmental delay and impacts on the neurologic system that can be irreversible.”
The department is aware of 19 measles-related hospitalizations in the state, including some due to pneumonia, which occurs in about one in 20 children with measles and is the leading cause of death for children who get measles.
Bell also said that several pregnant women who were exposed to the virus required administration of immune globulin, a concentrated solution of antibodies. It provides temporary protection against measles for unvaccinated individuals. Measles exposure during pregnancy can cause preterm birth or miscarriage.
A rarer type of brain swelling called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, can occur years after a measles infection. In September, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported the death of a school-age child due to SSPE. The child was originally infected with measles as an infant before they were old enough to receive the measles vaccine, the first dose of which is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old.
After recovering from the initial measles illness, the child developed SSPE, in which the virus remains dormant in the brain before triggering an inflammatory response that destroys brain tissue over time. The condition usually appears seven to 10 years after a person appears to recover from the initial measles infection. An estimated two in 10,000 people who get measles eventually develop SSPE.
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best way to prevent measles and serious complications associated with it.
Over 7,000 more doses of the MMR vaccine were given statewide in South Carolina this January compared to January 2025, a 72 percent increase. In Spartanburg County, the center of the outbreak, over 1,000 more doses were given this January compared to January 2025, a 162 percent increase. So far, January was the best month for measles vaccination during the outbreak, Bell said.
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