The Hertz Corporation, leading general use car rental brand and official transport provider for Wimbledon, has announced that it will give fans unique access to the world’s leading tennis stars through exclusive daily interviews during this year’s tournament.

On each day of the tournament, which starts on June 25, one player or official will be interviewed as part of the new ‘Driving The Championships’ video series with Hertz and The All England Lawn Tennis Club’s Live @ Wimbledon initiative.

The interviews will be filmed in the Hertz cars as the players make their way to The Championships, a statement from the company said. The footage will be uploaded daily to www.wimbledon.com, the new Live @ Wimbledon channel, and will be available via links from www.hertz.co.uk as well as the Hertz Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Michel Taride, president, Hertz International, and executive vice president, Hertz Corporation, said: “It has always been a great honour to support The Championships by transporting players and officials to and from the world’s greatest tennis event.”

“For the first time ever their journeys to The Championships will be recorded - providing fans with an exclusive insight into players’ thoughts, expectations and ambitions for the tournament - as we celebrate 18 years as the official transport provider,” he said.

Footage of the journeys will be captured throughout The Championships until July 8, the statement said. Tennis stars from both the ladies and gentlemen draws will be transported in Hertz vehicles while competing in the premier lawn tennis tournament on the professional circuit.

The ‘Driving The Championships’ video diaries will be filmed in a Ford Galaxy Zetec brought in by Hertz specifically for the purpose.

A fleet of 164 Ford vehicles, made up of the Galaxy and SMax, as well as two coaches and luggage vans, will be used to transport more than 32,000 passengers, it said.

A partner of Hertz for over 20 years, Ford has supplied vehicles for Wimbledon since Hertz became the official transport provider in 1996.

A team of 296 drivers and 40 supervisors will operate the Hertz fleet which in 2011 completed 17,000 journeys, carrying more than 32,000 passengers and covering 250,000 miles. During the first four days of The Championships, Hertz will carry out more than 1,000 journeys per day. 

Hertz has been working with a number of its partners offering customers across the globe chances to win tickets to Wimbledon and other travel prizes. These partners include Aegean Airlines, Aer Lingus, Etihad, Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), Lufthansa Miles & More, SAS EuroBonus, Virgin Atlantic, AA and Saga, Adac (Germany), ARC Show Your Card, and Nectar. – TradeArabia News Service