ASB attempts world’s longest tennis court
Thanks to ASB I was invited to come and see (and play) their 1000km – the “longest tennis court in the world” this morning at the ASB Tennis Centre in Parnell Auckland. How this works is that basically there are two half-courts – one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. These half-courts are joined by innovative technology linking to large screens to form the longest tennis court in the world.
By creating and playing on the world’s longest (in terms of distance) tennis court ever recorded, ASB is attempting to set a Guinness World Record! (This is still pending…)
This was achievable because of ASB partnering with the “brains behind this idea” – Saatchi & Saatchi, alongside Rush Digital Interactive whom was the company who provided all the innovative technology behind this fascinating idea.
When I first heard of this idea my immediate thought was that it was just like a huge game of Wii Sport Tennis, but in real life.
“In a world first, you could see your opponent in the opposite island up on a big screen,” says Anna Curzon, ASB’s General Manager of Marketing.
“As the players hit a shot, technology calculated the exact trajectory to fire a tennis ball out of ball machines in the opponent’s court, which allowed a 1000km rally to take place.”
When a player hits the ball (yes, they actually hit a real tennis ball) a net in front of the big screen is there to catch those flying balls, then through some magic camera work the trajectory of the ball is calculated and ball-serving machines on the other side of the court eject a ball out to their opponent.
The inaugural inter-island North versus South challenge was won by the South Island, who was awarded a trophy in honour of the victory.
The footage now sits with the Guinness World Records to be analysed to confirm if ASB has indeed written itself into the record books by creating the world’s longest game of tennis. Good luck ASB!
