Roger Federer Hologram Coming to Revamped Tennis Hall of Fame

Court legend’s image uses different technology than Tupac reflection at Coachella in 2012.

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Holograms, anyone?

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is set to serve up something that’s never been seen in a U.S. sports museum when it unveils a hologram of 17-time major champion Roger Federer. The hologram, which allows users to match skills with Federer, is the highlight of a $3 million renovation that also includes interactive exhibits and other new technology.

The virtual Federer “will tell visitors why the Swiss player loves the sport and will showcase some of his signature shots,” according to the announcement by the Newport, R.I.-based museum. Federer was chosen for the honor “because he is a current and international tennis star,” a museum spokeswoman told the Associated Press.

“It was an honor to be asked to be the hologram at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and I was quite happy to take on the project,” Federer said in a statement issued by the museum.

Photos of Roger Federer Creating His Hologram

Cortina Productions of McLean, Va., was at the helm of the new media production at the museum, which closed in December for the technological overhaul.

Other new technology in the museum will include an interactive tennis trivia game and a three-dimensional rotating globe that visitors can use to learn about tournaments and players around the world, according to museum officials.

Watch Roger Federer deliver the serve that will be immortalized in a hologram.

Tennis aficionados can test their knowledge of the sport on a five-foot touch table at which they can stand at either end and “serve ” tennis history questions back and forth to each other.

The “Call the Match” exhibit offers visitors the chance to record themselves taking on the role of broadcast luminaries like Cliff Drysdale, John Barrett, and Mary Carillo.

The museum will also feature new built-in display cases and more than 500 items that had never been displayed before, according to the AP.

Interactive video walls throughout the museum offer fans an opportunity to re-live classic tennis moments through video highlights of WTA, ATP, and Grand Slam tournament matches.

All of this new technology sounds progressive for a sport that often prides itself on tradition, but tennis was among the first sports to embrace technology for replays for things such as overruling or confirming referees’ boundary decisions.

It’s also a relief to finally see holograms of a celebrity being employed properly, as opposed to the commonly misidentified Pepper’s Ghost reflection technique that brought long-dead rapper Tupac Shakur to the Coachella stage a few years ago.

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