Nike's account in 1999 with Wieden+Kennedy marked the return of celebrity endorsements to Nike campaigns, including athletes such as Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton. Pretty continued this trend, and showcased the debut of Maria Sharapova as a spokesperson for the brand. Maria Sharapova had been playing tennis professionally since 2001, and became the youngest girl to reach the final at the junior Australian Open the following year, at the age of 14. In 2004, Sharapova became the third-youngest winner of the women's Wimbledon Championships. By 2005, she was ranked Number 1 in the world. Pretty was filmed and released in the run-up to Sharapova's appearance in the 2006 U.S. Open, a tournament she would go on to win. Production Production of the commercial began in early 2006. Wieden+Kennedy signed up director Ivan Zachariáš, known for his award-winning work on Land Rover's "Born Free" campaign and the Stella Artois pieces Plague and Pilot, to direct Pretty. Filming was done entirely on location, and the performances by the actors used in the spot were recorded live on set by miniature microphones concealed in their costume. Pretty was to be the first time Sharapova would appear in the Nike performance tennis dress she would wear to the U.S. Open. The stadium scene was filmed with only 100 extras, along with Tennis Hall of Fame inductee John McEnroe, his brother and captain of the 2004 U.S. Men's Olympic tennis team, Patrick McEnroe, and two-time tennis Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez. The remaining 26,000 members of the crowd were created by The Mill before filming even began, using Massive, and were added to the scene in post production. Flame was used for minor enhancements to the piece, including adding reflections and other cleanup. Release and reception Pretty debuted on U.S. television on Sunday August 20, 2006, in a commercial break during Fox's annual Teen Choice Awards ceremony, a week before the start of the 2006 U.S. Open. Its run continued in bursts throughout the remainder of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. The ad proved fairly popular, and was praised for showing female athletes as strong and self-assured, in direct contrast to an earlier campaign run during the 2004 Summer Olympics which showed Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton fleeing from a masked killer. The piece was also critically successful, receiving awards from the advertising and television industries, including two Cannes Gold Lions in the categories