The Auckland metropolitan area ( /ˈɔːklənd/, AWK-lənd), in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with 1,377,200 residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. In Māori Auckland's names are Tāmaki Makaurau, and the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.

The 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 3rd equal place in the world on its list, while the Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2011 ranked Auckland in 9th place. In 2010, Auckland was classified as a Beta World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University.

Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.

Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980), is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 53 as of May 28, 2012 in singles. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first black woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era.

Her 21 Grand Slam titles ties her for twelfth on the all time list and is more than any other active female player except for her younger sister Serena Williams. Venus Williams' titles consist of: seven in singles, twelve in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Those seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her with four other women for twelfth place on the all-time list. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list. Venus Williams is one of only three women in the open era to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held. She is one of only five women in the open era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.

Caroline Wozniacki (born 11 July 1990) is a Danish professional tennis player. She is a former world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 23 January 2012, she held this position for 67 weeks. She is the first Scandinavian woman to hold the top ranking position and 20th overall.

Since her WTA debut in 2005, she has improved her year-end ranking each year until finishing on top in both 2010 and 2011. She has won 18 WTA singles titles as of August 2011, three in 2008, three in 2009, six in 2010 (the most since Justine Henin's ten in 2007), and six in 2011. She was runner-up at the 2009 US Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha to Kim Clijsters. She won the 2006 Wimbledon Girls' Singles title but has yet to win a women's Grand Slam title. She also holds two WTA titles in doubles.

Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish Roman Catholicimmigrants, Piotr and Anna Wozniacki. Anna played on the Polish women's national volleyball team, and Piotr played professional football. The couple moved to Denmark when Piotr signed for the Danish football club Boldklubben 1909. Wozniacki's older brother Patrik Wozniacki is a professional footballer for Hvidovre IF in Denmark.

Pharrell Williams (born April 5, 1973), commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music. He is also the lead vocalist and drummer of hip-hop band N.E.R.D, which he formed with Hugo and childhood friend Shay Haley. He released his first single "Frontin'" in 2003 and followed up with his first album In My Mind in 2006.

As part of The Neptunes, Williams has produced numerous hit singles for various musicians. The two have earned three Grammy Awards amongst ten nominations. He is also the co-founder of the clothing brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Clothing. He is a member of the supergroup V.A. Playaz with Fam-Lay, Clipse, Skillz, Missy Elliott, and Timbaland & Magoo.

Pharrell Williams was born on April 5, 1973, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the eldest of three sons of Carolyn, a teacher, and Pharaoh Williams, a handyman. He met Chad Hugo in a seventh-grade summer band camp where Williams played the keyboards and drums and Hugo played tenor saxophone. They were also both members of a marching band; Williams played the snare drum while Chad was student conductor. With Hugo, Williams attended Princess Anne High School where they played in the school band; there he got the name Skateboard P.

Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a professional tennis player from France. Mannarino competes predominantly on the ATP Challenger Series and Futures circuit. His career high rank is no. 53, achieved on 16 May 2011.

Mannarino received a wild card to the singles draw of his home Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, in 2008. There he lost to Argentine qualifier Diego Junqueira 1–6, 2–6, 2–6. He also played in the men's doubles there in 2003 and 2008.

He played at the 2008 Open de Moselle in France, entering as a qualifier, and he reached the semi-finals, defeating number six seed Andreas Seppi in the first round. He also beat Rik de Voest and Marc Gicquel before losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6–7, 6–7. After being granted a wildcard for the Paris Masters, he went out in the first round. In November he played at a Challenger in Jersey, where, seeded fourth, he won the event, defeating Andreas Beck 7–6, 7–6, in the final. He participated in the inaugural Masters France, an exhibition tournament, along with a number of top French players, but lost his three round-robin matches in straight sets to Paul-Henri Mathieu, Michaël Llodra and Arnaud Clément. He received a wild-card to the 2009 Australian Open and lost to 14th seed Fernando Verdasco. In 2011, he reached the 2nd round of the Australian Open, and achieved his career-high ranking of no. 53 on May 16. At Wimbledon he reached the second round but fell to six-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets.