The Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam to enter the metaverse. The project seeks to innovate using NFTs as no other tournament has done before. Firstly, they offer the possibility of owning a part of the court. Meanwhile, they will host events alongside in Decentraland.
Each Australian Open NFT is a ball that represents a tiny section of the championship court. They possess beautiful patterns made by selected artists. Each plot will cost 0.067 – a reasonable price considering the big names supporting them. Plus, there are huge rewards for the lucky holder that has the winning shot land on their section.
The Australian Open NFTs offer rewards defined by the tournament’s winning point
If a winning point lands in your plot, you’ll receive Australian Open merch (virtual and physical) and footage of the play. The latter being where the innovation of the project lies. In fact, combining on-chain and off-chain data has never been done this way.
Just think about how this could affect rarity. Basically, the section associated with a winning shot will become increasingly valuable. However, the variation in rarity due to off-chain events wouldn’t be possible without their partnership with Chainlink.
Furthermore, there is also a chance to own a piece of history. The holder of the landing spot of the game-winning point will also receive the physical ball to their home address: A collectible the die-hard tennis fans would love to have.
Tennis in the metaverse
Too far away to go to the Grand Slam? Thanks to Decentraland’s partnership with the Australian Open, on the day the tournament starts (January 17th), you’ll be able to visit a plot explicitly made for the event. Additionally, there will be challenges with prizes on the line.
As adoption of the metaverse increases, meet-ups of this type could become the norm due to the rise in participation from people worldwide.
The Future of Sport in Web 3
In the NFT space, art is not everything. Utility and innovation are equally important. It is great to see a big tournament like the Australian Open use the technology behind NFTs creatively to make the game more exciting. The metaverse is at its infancy, and everyone has their eyes on their future.