Last week, Rome hosted the Internazionale BNL d’Italia–the Italian Open Tennis Tournament. For the second year in a row, Serbian Jelena Jankovic came out on top, defeating Alize Cornet, a young French qualifier in Sunday’s final match.
Even before the stars of women’s tennis hit the court last week, they hit the streets of Rome, filming an ad campaign that casts them as superheroes for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The number one ranking player, Maria Sharapova, wasn’t fond of the idea and made her thoughts known to the public. But, in the long run, she and some 30 other players shot video at six different locations ranging from the trendy Radisson SAS es Hotel to the stately Pantheon.The film shoot captured eight of the world’s Top 10 in varied scenes of a commercial film, directed by renowned French director Matthieu Mantovani. It will be launched at the Tour’s Wimbledon Player Party at Kensington Roof Gardens in London on June 19.
The campaign is designed to promote the Tour’s current and next generation stars, in their year-long race to the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2008, where the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams will do battle for season-ending glory.
Show above are:
top row: left, Ana Ivanovich at the Pantheon; middle, Daniela Hantuchova signing autographs; right, Venus Williams
bottom row: left, Jelena Jankovic; middle, Ana Ivanovich in Piazza della Rotunda; various players at a party at the Radisson SAS es Hotel
Via WTA website
