I have seen various attempts at turning live sports into some form of 3D rendered animation. This is usually an attempt to coax younger viewers into watching sport they may previously not have been interested in. The most recent one I've seen is the Simpsons NFL game from about a month ago.
But what is interesting about the Australian Open approach is that they are using it to get around rights issues, allowing them to broadcast full matches live globally via Youtube, with commentary and audio from the courts.
This is despite the large pot of money they have made from selling broadcast rights to TV channels across the globe.
If I was one of those channels, I am not too sure I would be very happy about this, especially as it is proving to be quite popular.
The technology is not perfect, it can be a little glitchy with the backgrounds and the players. But at times, especially with all the angles, it is easy to forget they are not real.
There has to be a limit here though. If the technology keeps improving and can render ever more realistic players, at what point do they break their broadcast contracts? Do they ever? Photorealistic rendering does not seem out of the realm of possibility even now, so does that mean they are deliberately keeping it cartoony to not dip into that even greyer area?