Australian Open Serves Up NFTs Linked to Live Matches

Tournament director Craig Tiley described the collection as “an opportunity to be part of the 2022 Australian Open in a way never before available.”

article-image

The Australian Open Art Balls NFTs. Source: Australian Open

share

key takeaways

  • The NFTs will be minted on Ethereum
  • The Australian Open plans to stream a virtual tennis tournament in Decentraland

The Australian Open (AO) appears likely to have to make do without world no. 1 Novak Djokovic after the tennis star was refused entry into the country due to COVID restrictions on Wednesday. But the winning shots of those who do compete later this month will be featured in a collection of 6,776 “Art Balls” NFTs as a part of an initiative to “be the first grand slam to enter the metaverse.”

Tournament director Craig Tiley described the non-fungible token (NFT) collection as “an opportunity to be part of the 2022 Australian Open in a way never before available.”

“The AO has always been seen as one of the most innovative sporting events in the world and this project is just another example of our team pushing the boundaries to provide our fans with better access and engagement with the AO,” Tiley said in a statement. 

The NFTs, a digital collectible that verifies ownership on the blockchain, will be linked to live tournament data, according to the AO.

Each NFT’s metadata will be linked to a plot of a tennis court surface in the real-life tournament. If the winning shot from a match in the AO lands on that plot, the NFT metadata will be updated in real-time to reflect the match’s outcomes, according to marketing materials sent to Blockworks.

The AO will also stream the tournament in the 3D virtual reality platform Decentraland beginning on Jan. 17. Users will be able to explore a digital replica of the AO.

“We want the AO to be the world’s most accessible and inclusive sports and entertainment event, and with the unique challenges fans have faced getting to Melbourne we’ve fast-tracked our launch into the Metaverse,” Ridley Plummer, a project manager at Tennis Australia, said in a statement. 

The Art Balls NFT collection goes on sale Jan. 13. The AO begins on Jan. 17.

This story was updated on Jan. 6, 2022, at 2:45 AM ET.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens