By Davide Frau, EO South Florida

It was midnight on a Saturday when my phone rang. It was one of my business partners, Barnabas Carrega. After the previous 72 hours—which were beyond grueling—I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone.

That Thursday, we decided to pull the plug on our first promotional event set to take place during the Sony Open in Miami, Florida, USA. The event we had created failed us in several ways: not enough people had RSVP’d; no high-profile celebrities were confirmed to appear; and most of the budget was allocated for PR. Reluctant and beyond tired, I picked up the phone anyway … and I froze in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing:

“Nadal and Djokovic’s publicist called and wants them, respectively the number one and number two tennis players in the world, to participate in our event.”

“You can’t be serious,” I replied. Hadn’t we failed on Thursday night?