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Today is the anniversary of Andre Agassi winning Wimbledon in 1992 in the Nike Air Challenge Huarache. While Agassi made history in his Nikes and Wimbledon whites, Roger Federer and his wardrobe have been the talk of this year’s tourney thanks to his new apparel deal.
Signing with Uniqlo after two decades donning the Swoosh, Federer and his new partner made their public debut for the grass games earlier this week.
For now, it appears a good deal for both parties. Fed got PAID, is playing well and you don’t have to look hard to see the square logo on his shirt. Still, there’s something to be desired for Fed moving forward in regards to his apparel and his personal brand: his logo.
“I was excited to wear Uniqlo today,” Federer said following Wimbledon play. “I must tell you, it’s been a long time coming. I felt very good out there. It’s also crucial to play well, so it was helpful. The RF logo is with Nike at the moment, but it will come to me at some point. I hope rather sooner than later, that Nike can be nice and helpful in the process to bring it over to me. It’s also something that was very important for me, for the fans, really… They are my initials. They are mine. The good thing is it’s not theirs forever. In a short period of time, it will come to me.”
While Federer has reason and right to want to own his initials, history bodes well for Nike and their retention to ownership. When Andre Agassi left Nike for adidas, the Swoosh held onto the fireball tennis logo — very much attached to Agassi but much less personal in presentation. During Agassi’s tenure with the Three Stripes, the logo was unused by adi but also left off Tech Challenge retros during that duration. Once Andre returned to Nike, his logo was back in action and back on products. Conversely, Shaq has taken his Dunkman logo from Reebok to Walmart to Li-Ning to back to Reebok. Perhaps Federer will find the same fate.
As for his feet, those remain in Nike but are also up for grabs.
“I don’t have a shoe deal,” remarked Federer. “I’m looking forward to see what shoes I will be wearing in the near future. For now, I will be wearing Nike. They have shown interest to have a shoe deal with me, as well. Ties are not broken there. I have deep roots with Nike. I’ve had a great relationship over the last 20 years. But everything is open. Yeah, it’s very exciting also again to see what’s out there, who wants to do something with me.”
A class act on and off the court, we look forward to see what Fed laces up in the near future.
Source: Sneaker Freaker
Imagery via Zimbio
