Explore the WTA’s journey with SAP
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is modernizing its data strategy in the cloud to better serve players, fans, and its organization. Using SAP Business Technology Platform, the WTA is now harnessing insights from five decades of once-siloed data to optimize tour operations, elevate the fan experience worldwide, and champion advancement in player health and wellness.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Sports | St. Petersburg, Florida | >1,000 employees |
years of data made more accessible in the cloud.
data packages generated per event.
databases consolidated into one.
Chairman, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Sports | St. Petersburg, Florida | >1,000 employees |
years of data made more accessible in the cloud.
data packages generated per event.
databases consolidated into one.
Chairman, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
Becoming data-driven to elevate the game, both on and off the court
Founded by Billie Jean King in 1973 on the principle of equal opportunity, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is a global leader in women’s professional sports. As one of the world’s most recognizable and high-profile sports organizations, the WTA has more than 1,600 players representing over 80 nations, all competing to earn WTA rankings points and prestigious tournament titles. The Hologic WTA Tour comprises over 70 events, spanning 30 counties and regions across six continents with a global broadcast audience of more than 1 billion.
The WTA was sitting on a mountain of data, compiled since the league began in 1973 and siloed in 27 databases. The organization wanted to unlock these rich data sources to systematically inform critical decisions related to its tour operations, players, and fans. Releasing and safeguarding information related to performance, tournament trends, statistics, and player health was becoming increasingly challenging.
With a growing pile of complex data, the WTA needed a comprehensive data management and analytics strategy. The goal was to identify and establish data correlations and pull new, valuable insights from this information.
Formulating a decisive game plan in the cloud
To become nimble, adaptable, and future-ready, the WTA made the decision to streamline and modernize its data toolbox in the cloud by leveraging the SAP HANA Cloud database on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). SAP HANA Cloud offers a managed in-memory cloud database, while SAP BTP facilitates the integration of data and analytics, application development, and automation in one unified environment.
The integrated solutions give the WTA the advantage of access to information from across the organization. This empowers it to turn decades worth of data into holistic insights, quickly identify correlations, and derive new value that was previously hidden.
Using SAP solutions allows the WTA to improve data integrity, cybersecurity, redundancy, and maintainability of tour data. And a simplified technology environment in the cloud means the WTA can innovate at pace, transform to real-time systems, find new data-driven insights, and optimize tour operations.
Chief Operating Officer, Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)
Tapping game-changing data to thrive for the next 50 years
Billie Jean King once said, “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” The same can be said of evolving technology, and that’s precisely what the WTA has accomplished.
With SAP BTP in place, the WTA can now take charge of future growth using the platform to accelerate innovation. By combining application development, data and analytics, integration, and AI capabilities, SAP BTP enables the WTA to access context-rich, tournament-critical data. The organization can make the most of this information to streamline tour operations, enhance the fan experience, and safeguard player health for the next generation of female players.
The WTA and SAP have embarked on an innovative journey to bring AI to the forefront of women’s health. A customized solution is currently being developed to enable professional players to optimize their playing and training schedules. Continuing on from the success of the data migration to SAP BTP, both partners are exploring an AI-enabled scheduling solution to help players maximize their performance, minimize injury, manage recovery, and optimize their overall health and well-being between training, traveling, and tournaments. The solution is being built with the players’ health at the heart of the innovation.
The use of SAP HANA Cloud allows the WTA to analyze player health data and draw parallels across tournament conditions and career histories, helping coaches and players monitor, adjust, and maximize their performance. With critical insights reaching far beyond the historical and live-on-court match data, the WTA can also capitalize on mining valuable data in all areas of its business operations.
Raising the bar for sports technology innovation and evolution is uniquely tied to the WTA’s future mission of “Just Getting Started.” When the WTA teams up with SAP solutions, extracting more value from the vast amounts of data it generates is an undeniable game changer and winning advantage for the organization.
Want to know more about the WTA?
Data Takes Center Court at the Women’s Tennis Association (SAP News Center)
Data Takes Center Court at the WTA with SAP BTP (SAP blog)
Data Takes Center Court at the WTA with SAP BTP (SAP video)
SAP and the Women’s Tennis Association: Empowering Young Women Through Sport (SAP video)