Here are some photos of Roger Federer practicing in New York, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre this week. Roger made it to the final of the Western & Southern tournament in Cincinnati last week, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. After that final, he looked like he needed this week off before the US Open starts on Monday. And he’s going to need his rest in between matches too, because he did not get the best draw. The draw came out yesterday, and you can see the quarters here:
#USOpen draw – Men's singles
R16
(1) Nadal – (16) Edmund
(9) Thiem – (5) Anderson
(3) Del Potro – (15) Tsitsipas
(11) Isner – (8) Dimitrov
(7) Cilic – (10) Goffin
(13) Schwartzman – (4) A. Zverev
(6) Djokovic – (12) Carreno Busta
(14) Fognini – (2) Federer pic.twitter.com/mNcxSEorhV— Ubitennis (@Ubitennis) August 23, 2018
Potential Federer v. Djokovic in the quarterfinals, but that’s only if Roger gets through four rounds (which might include an in-form Fabio Fognini). Basically, I’m not entirely sure Roger will make it past the quarters, but who knows. Anything can happen on that side of the draw, honestly, and I’m slightly shocked that Djokovic didn’t end up in the Sascha Zverev quarter. (I’m kind of pissed off about Juan Martin del Potro’s draw too, but again, who knows what will happen.)
Really though, I just wanted to talk about Roger’s $300 million Uniqlo contract and why Uniqlo thought it was a good idea to hand over that kind of money to a man who just turned 37 years old. Roger apparently got advice about it from his friend and #1 fan-girl, Anna Wintour:
He spoke to Wintour about it: “Sometimes I have called her up in the past for advice; I also asked her about Uniqlo, and she thought it was a great idea and would be a wonderful match-up if it would work out. Sometimes she also likes to know what I’m going to wear. She will ask, ‘What are you wearing to the US Open?’ Sometimes I would show her and she has her comments. And I have, in the past, also shown it to her because — especially when it come to New York and Wimbledon — she is very particular, wanting to know before everybody else what’s going on. I don’t mind as long as also Uniqlo — or Nike, in the past — doesn’t mind me showing her. She’s very trustworthy — so am I — so I feel like it’s only for the best… Anna has been incredibly supportive and I cannot thank her enough.”
He signed a ten-year contract: The immediate focus of the sponsorship will be Federer’s performancewear, but after that, anything is possible — including expanding into everydaywear. “It feels different because it’s not just about tennis clothes or a limited-edition situation going on. I feel like when I do something now with Uniqlo it will be for the masses, which is great. It’s something I couldn’t do in the past.”
He cares about fashion at every level: “It used to be a lot of tennis clothes or suits, but in the past five, ten years I’ve taken a lot more joy in and care about what I wear in between. I think that’s also why I think I’ve become more famous in fashion, because I care about what I wear on a daily basis. My style is classic, traditional, but with a twist.”
He wants a lifewear line: “I think I stand for style on the court. I really wanted to make the best apparel — the best looking apparel — for a tennis player in recent years. Obviously, I want to redo that, recreate the coolest things with Uniqlo, and I’m very excited about that and then, obviously, going beyond that into lifewear — something I’ve done a little bit with Nike in the past, but not as much as I think we have the potential to do at Uniqlo… They have to decide how much they want me involved in lifewear, but I’m very open and I would love to explore, learn, and help as much as they wanted.”
[From Fashion Week Daily & The Cut]
Roger did create his own athleisure collection – more of a capsule collection – with Nike, so I’m not sure what he’s talking about exactly. My guess is that Nike, as a corporation, was still rather tight-assed about letting their “talent” try to design stuff. But Uniqlo seems more willing and eager to give Roger free rein across the board. I expect in a year or so, there will be a full-on Federer-Uniqlo athleisure collection and maybe even a suit collection and more. As for Anna Wintour getting to see Roger’s clothes before tournaments… my lord, that woman is in love with Roger.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Good for him to earn that much money after turning 35.
I mean, I get it. Someone like Roger has international appeal. He can believably pull off business, business casual, and athletic outfits – I could see how his lifestyle/brand is aspirational to the male demographic uniqlo is going after. Do I think $300mil is a little steep tho? Yes.
I, for one, think uniqlo has taken the place of H&M as a place to go for cheap basics. The price point is a bit easier to swallow than Everlane or Madewell, which are similarly styled.
It’s 30M per year for 10 years. For a company with USD 8B+ in revenues, 30M is acceptable. They are still not a household name brand, despite being with a lot of other athletes. They needed to get someone like Roger, to push it to the same level as the American and European brands. Roger can do that, and it would take a lot of money for him to leave Nike. I think it’s smart for Uniqo, and mis merch can easily pay off for the 30M annually.
Nike lets their big stars design all sorts of things. Serena has personally designed some really atrocious collections for them (she’s the GOAT but her style is…really something) and Roger was responsible for, amongst many other things, that wildly tacky white and gold Wimbledon get up years back. Nike’s actually lost a fair bit of money making hideous clothes no one wants in an effort to keep big names happy.
He went to Uniqlo because they offered him more money. Simple as that.
Roger and Anna – braiding hair, snapping gum, and sharing wardrobe advice! <3
This shits me to tears.
Why the f should a sports star – supremely talented I concede – be able to earn such outrageous sums of money…meanwhile teachers bring loo paper and stationery to school because the school has run dry and nurses and paramedics work back to back shifts.
Our world is so broken when a tennis player can earn almost half a BILLION for flogging a few shirts or whatever. Stop the world…I really, really wanna get off : (
Now I feel a little guilty for my snarky comment. But yeah, as a former primary school teacher – this unbalanced valuation of the world has broken for a long time.
I get your point, anon. It’s one of the reasons I’m so proud of Andy Murray, who continues to keep his tax base in the UK and pays UK taxes, unlike other sports people who have deliberately moved to low tax jurisdictions. If everyone paid their taxes and countries set tax burdens appropriately (like in Scandinavia) the things you describe wouldn’t happen.
I love your tennis posts! I am a huge fan of your blog and I love the intersection of sports personalities/fashion/commerce! Thank you for brightening my day!