Roger Federer’s longtime agent Tony Godsick lately recalled how Anna Wintour performed an instrumental position within the legendary Swiss leaving Nike to change into an UNIQLO-sponsored athlete in 2018. In response to Godsick, it was Wintour who helped him get in contact with Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of the Japanese attire big.
The Swiss’ contract with Nike got here to an finish in March 2018. Whereas the American sportswear juggernaut proposed a suggestion to increase the contract, the previous No. 1’s camp discovered it unsatisfactory for a few causes. For starters, it was nowhere close to as profitable because the earlier contract, and it did not provide the Swiss the inventive management and monetary freedom he was looking for on the time.
Finally, the 20-time Main champion’s dissatisfaction with Nike proved telling, as he signed a 10-year, $300 million contract with UNIQLO in July 2018. Just lately, Roger Federer’s agent Tony Godsick, throughout an look on the Served With Andy Roddick podcast, remembered how former Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour orchestrated the Swiss’ swap to UNIQLO. Godsick stated:
“And keep in mind Novak (Djokovic) had been with Uniqlo. In order that they have been already in tennis. And I could not get to Mr. Yanai and Anna Wintour, who I owe an incredible quantity, moreover being certainly one of my favourite folks on this planet. She was really, I keep in mind having breakfast together with her on the Mark Resort in New York Metropolis in her desk, desk 21 within the far proper nook. And I stated, I would like a favor. Have you learnt Mr. Yanai?” (from 50:19)
“That ought to by no means have occurred” – Nike’s former tennis director’s sincere admission on letting Roger Federer depart
Mike Nakajima, Nike’s former tennis director, defined within the 2018 e book, The Roger Federer Impact authored by Simon Cambers and Simon Graf, that the American sportswear juggernaut’s resolution to let the Swiss depart was an “atrocity”. Nakajima additionally opined that Nike ought to have handled the previous No. 1 prefer it did different legendary athletes comparable to Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.
“That ought to by no means have occurred. For us to let anyone like that go, it’s an atrocity. Roger Federer belonged with Nike for the remainder of his profession. Similar to Michael Jordan. Like LeBron James, like Tiger Woods. He’s proper up there with the all-time biggest Nike athletes ever. I’m nonetheless upset. But it surely occurred. I’ve to recover from it. It wasn’t my resolution and I wasn’t there for it,” Nakajima stated.
The Swiss retired from his tennis-playing profession on the 2022 Laver Cup. Nonetheless, his collaboration with UNIQLO continues to be going robust.
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Edited by Sudipto Pati