This year’s Australian Open is taking steps to enter the Metaverse. The Australian Open has launched its own NFT collection in collaboration with sweet.io. The Australian Open also released an NFT collection of Art Balls featuring AO players and legends from the tournament’s history.
The Australian Open’s Art Ball NFTs are linked to live match data. These NFTs offer fans the opportunity to own a piece of AO tennis court surface. The AO is also partnering with Decentraland, a 3D virtual reality platform, for a unique virtual experience.
The Australian Open tournament has unveiled an NFT collection that features 6,776 AO Art Balls, each representing a 19 cm x 19 cm plot of a tennis court surface.
In the NFT collection, the Australian Open has included special assets, including a 3D Tennis Racket from each decade. The collection will also feature memorable game moments from the tournament’s history. Players and fans will be able to collect these items in a Sweet blockchain wallet, ensuring that they will be able to keep them forever.
The NFT collection is available for collectors in six distinct collections, each with more than 40 different NFTs. Once a collector completes a collection, they’ll receive a special 3D poster of the decade they’re collecting. Additionally, the first 50 collectors will receive an exclusive AO NFT Trophy.
With the NFT collection, the Australian Open has created a virtual version of Melbourne Park, its famous venue. The virtual version will run for two weeks starting on Monday, January 17. Users will also have access to digital replicas of important Melbourne Park areas such as Rod Laver Arena.