To kick off the 36th annual Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament, which starts today and runs through April 4, organizers scrapped the annual surprise stunt (last year tennis pros volleyed atop two Mercedes) in favor of a pre-promoted match yesterday between celebrities and professional tennis players at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.
“We’ve done some spectacular stunts over the years, now we want to bring our consumers closer,” said Sony Ericsson event coordinator Simone Bresi-Ando of the gamed, dubbed Glam.Set.Match. “We’re injecting glamour and innovation to the game and creating these [entertainment] aspects to it that wouldn’t necessarily be there [while at the same time] expanding the audience of tennis.”
The match paired Mel B. from the Spice Girls with Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and fellow Serb pro Ana Ivanovic with pop singer Jay Sean. Pre-match video interviews with the celebrity amateurs aired on Sony Ericsson’s YouTube channel beginning March 11 in preparation for the match. Additional interviews and photos taken yesterday will be be added to the site.
About 150 spectators—a mix of those already on-site for the matches later in the day, local school groups, and attendees who purchased tickets for $10 each—attended. Sony Ericsson and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller promoted the event to local community organizations, schools, and sports centers.
The teams played a 15-minute match on the main court at Crandon Park; Sean and Ivanovic were the victors.
