Beeline Kazakhstan invents sloping 'Mountennis' to sell Almaty its first ATP 250

In October 2024 the ATP 250 series came to Almaty for the first time, a milestone many residents had not believed would happen in a city where tennis had never been the most popular sport. Beeline Kazakhstan, a longtime supporter of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation and sponsor of the new Almaty Open, wanted more than signage: it wanted an indifferent city to talk about the tournament and attend.

GForce Grey built the idea on Almaty's defining feature: the city sits on a slope against the mountains, and locals are proud of that identity. The agency constructed the world's first sloping professional tennis court on a mountainside and introduced Mountennis, 'tennis in Almaty style', as a brand-new sport. A two-day amateur tournament was held on the inclined court on October 5–6, 2024, one week before the Almaty Open, with matches streamed live over Beeline's mobile network.

The stunt became news on its own: TV broadcasts and bloggers covered the unusual court, and the coverage reached about 1.2 million people in a city of roughly 2 million. The Almaty Open then drew around 40,000 spectators, more than the higher-status ATP 500 Astana Open's 38,000, in a city where tennis had previously struggled for attention. The case later won a Gold and a Crystal at MAD STARS 2025 in Busan and circulated through international award platforms.