What did the job entail?
Photographers travelled to China, Paris and Melbourne over 10 months to shoot 36 of the world’s top tennis players with their childhood photographs. A total of 3,000 books were produced and distributed to players, National Olympic Committees, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum and FIFA among other sports federations.

How was it produced?
The 260x260mm books were printed in 12pp sections, outputting 110 B1 plates over 16 hours on a 10-colour Heidelberg 102. London-based printer Cousin used 50,000 sheets of Amadeus Primo Silk to produce the books, which comprised 300gsm covers and 200gsm text paper and an eight-page pull-out section. The outer covers were matt laminated and spot gloss UV was applied to the text. Once the books were bound, each was individually shrink-wrapped and mailed to the recipient.

What challenges were overcome?
The photography team decided to recreate a picture of Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka on holiday in Tunisia as a young boy. It took three hours to photograph the original in 13 pieces using a Polaroid camera, capturing each section precisely so it overlapped with the next image.

What was the feedback?
Editor Emily Forder-White said: "The final result was exactly how I envisaged it – striking, fresh, and attention-grabbing. The feedback from the players themselves, the tennis family, the IOC and other sports federations around the world is testament to the quality and wow-factor of the book. It’s great to see and hear the reactions when people open the book."