Tennis players split over generative AI use for scouting and daily life
Tennis players have increasingly turned to generative artificial intelligence to scout opponents and manage day-to-day tasks across the sport, a trend reported on 5 August 2026. The emergence of GenAI has prompted a generational shift, with leading players divided over the technology’s usefulness and consequences.
Emma Raducanu described using ChatGPT for a range of personal queries and for amusement, saying: “I use Chat a lot,” Raducanu says, laughing. “Every small thing I do it and I got this idea. So, you know how Spotify do a Spotify Wrapped? I asked ChatGPT to make me a Chat Wrapped, and it was giving me a rundown on my personality. “I was like: ‘It’s a little bit too accurate.’ It was very clear, very concise. No nonsense, straight into the question. I was like: ‘OK, I can relate maybe. Some of that is true.’” Jessica Pegula said someone on the tour is using ChatGPT-style tools to compile opponent scouting, adding: “I don’t know if they fully, 100% listen to it, but I think maybe they cross-reference to see how accurate it is,” she says. “It’s not bad. It just summarises everything and you can make it maybe very simplified or make it complicated.”
Bianca Andreescu recounted consulting ChatGPT before a match against an unfamiliar opponent on the lower-level ITF circuit because there were few video clips available: “There weren’t many videos on her,” she says. “So I was curious. Because Chat will scout other sources, right? And I was like: ‘Please be specific. Please do your research.’ And I think it worked out well.” Separately, the ATP has introduced a platform called Tennis IQ that processes large volumes of in-match data to define a player’s performance rating and shot quality.
Not all players are convinced by AI-driven scouting. Zizou Bergs said he had seen a ChatGPT scouting result two or three years ago and found it unsatisfactory: “I heard of someone [scouting with ChatGPT], and he showed me the result of it,” he says. “It was like two or three years ago and I thought it was completely trash.” Daniil Medvedev described using ChatGPT in group conversations as an “armchair coach,” asking how to translate its suggestions into on-court action: “[It] says some things [about Sinner and Alcaraz] and I’m like: ‘OK great, how do I do it?’ Like: ‘OK, I see what you mean and it’s not bad things, but how do I go on court and do it?’” Coco Gauff said an AI produced nothing new about how opponents play her: “It didn’t say anything I didn’t already know,” she says. “Newsflash: everybody plays me the same way – hit to my forehand and hope I double-fault.”
Players also described using AI outside match preparation. Raducanu listed varied uses for ChatGPT: “It’s as random as my brain. One minute it’s history. One minute it’s art. One minute it’s some random fact. One minute it’s translations. So different questions.” Others expressed caution: Frances Tiafoe said he avoids GenAI tools entirely—“I don’t have ChatGPT. I don’t have the other one. I haven’t used much AI-generated stuff. I’m going against the grain. I’m still Google searching,” he says—while Jelena Ostapenko recounted a cautionary tale about incorrect travel advice from ChatGPT and warned of overreliance: “Somebody came to some country, they thought they didn’t need a visa. Then they came and they were stuck in the airport because ChatGPT told them they didn’t need a visa even though they did need a visa. So no offending ChatGPT, but I still think you still have to check stuff yourself. Because it’s making us lazy. It’s not a good thing.”
Concerns extended to AI’s broader effects. Medvedev said he dislikes AI partly because of the risk of people becoming complacent: “In general I don’t like AI,” he says. “Because even if I’m someone who can be a bit lazy sometimes, I do believe we need to do something sometimes. With AI it feels like so many people are going to just stay on the sofa and make their life through AI. I don’t think it is nice.” Naomi Osaka raised environmental reservations: “I just heard it takes up a lot of water, and I like the water we have on Earth,” she says. Gauff added environmental concern to her reservations—“AI, I think it is cool, but also I don’t like what it does to the environment, so I don’t think I’m going to waste my clicks on that”—and recounted a recent emergency where AI was used: “The last time I had to use AI was for an emergency because we had to go to the hospital,” she says, smiling, before urgently clarifying her statement. “But not for me! It was for my friend.”
Some players adopt a pragmatic stance. Andreescu said she has listened to many AI-related podcasts while trying to avoid overdependence: “I’m trying not to become too obsessed with it because it can control our life,” she says. “You can ask him anything, talk about anything, won’t talk back. It’ll ask you questions and seem interested in what you’re talking about.” Iga Swiatek reported using AI to draft messages: “He’s writing emails for me sometimes,” she says. Elina Svitolina described a lighter use, asking AI about fashion: “What colours are suiting me the most,” she says, cackling. “It was pastel colours. Cold summer.”
Uncertainty about AI’s place in tennis remains widespread in the locker room, with Tiafoe summarising his ambivalence and potential openness to change: “At one point I will [embrace AI] but I don’t like so much information. It’s just crazy.”
