Tennis Australia has transformed the world's best players into animated versions of themselves to bypass broadcast restrictions at the Australian Open.

If you’re tuning into the 2025 Australian Open, you may notice something very, very weird about the players on the court if you’re watching matches on YouTube. They look like they’re straight out of a video game, like Wii Tennis. The players’ bodies and faces have been replaced with Miis, basically. What gives?

In a unique workaround to address geographical streaming constraints and copyrights issues, the Australian Open 2025 organizers have modified players to animation, enabling viewers to free access to all games albeit at a cost.

The Australian Open might look a little different this year if you’re livestreaming it on YouTube. That’s because the tournament has put an animated overlay on some of its matches to avoid broadcast licensing conflicts, making players look an awful lot like Wii Sports characters, as reported earlier by The Guardian.

The Australian Open has implemented a cheeky workaround for international viewers that dodges its own broadcast obligations.

The Australian Open is getting in on the newest trend in the sports world by re-creating tennis matches in video-game form

Record-holder of ten Australian Open titles, Novak Djokovic aims for another triumph in the Land Down Under as the year's first Grand Slam gets underway.

Maybe attending sports events in person is too been-there, done-that in the modern age. So, apparently, is watching the actual action on a TV, laptop or phone. The Australian Open is getting in on the newest trend in the sports world by re-creating tennis matches in video-game form.