“In the bowels of the tennis center underneath the Louis Armstrong Stadium lies the digital media control room, where dozens of IBM and USTA techies monitor the Web site, check server requests and keep the show running.
It works like this: IBM provides every chair umpire with a PDA device that lets the ump record a point by clicking on a box either on the left side or right side of the screen. The device also lets the umpire record an ace, a fault, a foot foul or note when a player challenges a call.
As soon as the ump clicks a button, the information is instantly sent to a massive database that contains every statistic for every game. USTA statisticians on the sidelines also have computers and enter information like unforced errors, net shots and first-serve percentages that get uploaded to the database.”
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