John McEnroe.

Not the first person who comes to mind when you think of joy in sports. He was his own toughest critic, a fierce competitor, and well-known for his angry on-court outbursts.

But later in life, John found joy. He finally realized “It’s only worth it if you enjoy it.”

So to challenge the win-at-all-costs mentality in modern sports, Michelob ULTRA challenged this living legend to face off against his own legacy, and embrace the joy he denied himself as a player.

Tennis met science fiction as Michelob ULTRA created the first real vs. virtual tennis match.

Through a combination of Artificial Intelligence, Unreal MetaHuman technology, and machine learning, John McEnroe was able to revisit his career, playing a real match against his toughest opponent: himself.

McEnroe went head-to-head against full A.I. versions of himself from the past.

Serving up joy like it’s never been seen before.

McEnroe vs. McEnroe was a throwback to an incredible career, but it was made possible with the most futuristic technology available. So, how do you create a virtual version of McEnroe that looks, thinks, and plays like him?

The idea was first conceived in April 2020. But given the audacity of the idea, it wasn’t until December that the idea entered R&D, discussing with industry experts how exactly to make it a reality.

In January, we agreed on the physical event space design. In February, the avatars were brought to life via scanning and motion capture of John and designed to look just like him with Unreal MetaHuman technology. After analyzing every single match from John’s career, each avatar was programmed with adaptive Artificial Intelligence, to think and play just like John. Finally, all of that programming was seamlessly incorporated into the avatar’s game play.

Every move is synchronized with an intricate ball-return system to accurately replicate McEnroe’s style of play from different years of his career. Carefully orchestrated ball launchers and robotic arms were used to simulate young McEnroe’s ball strokes. A specially designed particle-mist screen allowed the avatars to appear and play against John, with the avatars moving around the court and returning the ball.

We essentially created a gaming experience in the real world for everyone watching. By creating McEnroe’s avatars in the Metaverse, it allowed us to add a real-time animated XR layer of the avatar to the camera feed for the viewers watching at home, allowing us to supplement the traditional, everyday, tennis camera angles with angles that had never been possible in a real match before.

On April 21, the real and virtual worlds collided in a never-before-done combination of innovation at the live filming, serving up joy like it’s never-been-seen before.