As the U.S. Open tennis tournament nears, Mercedes-Benz is teaming with one of the game's all-time greats in a humorous ad campaign.

"Timeless" features the Mercedes SL and Roger Federer -- in multiple forms.

Thanks to a combination of computer-generated imaging and a camcorder, the campaign highlights tennis history by having Mr. Federer perform as stars such as Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Bjorn Borg.

At the same time, the videos also feature Mercedes SLs and how the roadster has evolved over the years.

Mercedes began releasing teasers last week on its YouTube channel. The full video (2 minutes, 9 seconds) was initially released by Mr. Federer on his Facebook page and is available on YouTube.

The campaign so far has generated 6.4 million views, according to the True Reach compilation from the firm Visible Measures.

"By putting Roger in an inherently sharable, fully digital campaign, preceded by a week of teasers on MBUSA's social channels, we hope to provide some entertainment for tennis fans and pique interest in our own icon among social- and digital-first consumers," said Mark Aikman, general manager of marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA, in a statement.

The 2017 SL, unveiled in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show, went on sale this year. The U.S. is the largest market for the SL, Mercedes said.

The 2016 U.S. Open runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 11. Ironically, Mr. Federer won't be competing this year because of an injury.

~~ Automotive News