All Blacks become ball boys for Venus Williams

The whole world knows that the All Black can handle balls. Who better, then, to be ball boys at the ASB Classic, thought Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand?

Will they outclass last year’s ASB Classic ball boy dogs?

All Blacks players, Sam Cane, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Joe Moody and Julian Savea were up for the challenge. They agreed to chase balls, hold towels and hold shade umbrellas over the heads of Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Cane, Milner-Skudder, Moody and Savea were filmed doing their bit for the exhibition match at Auckland’s ASB Arena between Williams, Wozniacki and Mattek-Sands in Auckland on January 4.

The video was shot as part of ASB’s sponsorship of the ASB Classic, which now includes both the women’s and men’s tournaments.

ASB Bank’s head of community and sponsorship, Mark Graham, commented, “We enjoyed bringing our ASB Classic players Venus, Caroline and Bethanie together with the All Blacks. Celebrating ASB’s first year of sponsoring both the men’s and women’s tournaments and of the All Blacks, seeing tennis champions and rugby champions interacting on the same court provided a bit of fun for the public; it was a great way to show ASB’s love for both sports.

“Last year we wowed the world with The Best Ball Boys in the World with our dog stars, and we weren’t sure it would be possible to find anybody that could do a better job of supporting this year’s ASB Classic players on the court. But if anyone was up to the challenge, we knew it would be our All Blacks.”

ASB Bank has been the major sponsor of the ASB Classic for 20 years. 2016 is the first year ASB has been the major sponsor for both the men’s and women’s tournaments. The bank’s involvement has so far included helping to develop the ASB Tennis Arena in Stanley St Auckland, sponsoring regional tennis and the development of young players and playing a part in ensuring some top seeded tennis players appear at tournaments in New Zealand.