Roger Federer committed an atrocity, former Nike tennis director says

Nike’s longtime former tennis executive has slammed the company’s split with tennis legend Roger Federer.

Federer left Nike in 2018 after 24 years and signed a $300 million, 10-year deal with Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo.

It was a number that Nike didn’t feel was within the reach of a tennis player, but now Mike Nakajima, who worked with stars like John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi before Nike signed Federer when he was 13, has broken ranks.

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This should never have happened. The fact that we let someone like that go is cruelty, Nakajima told the authors of the book. The Roger Federer effect.

Roger Federer belonged to Nike for the rest of his career. Just like Michael Jordan. Like LeBron James, like Tiger Woods. He is among the best Nike athletes of all time. I’m still disappointed. But it happened. I have to get over it. It wasn’t my decision and I wasn’t there for it.

Nakajima left Nike a year before Federer to start his own company, but remains connected to Nike as his wife, brother and one of his sons work there. According to CNN.

He said Nike already had a model for how to approach Federers’ non-playing years because of what they did with basketball legend Jordan. And he didn’t blame the 20-time grand slam winner for accepting Uniqlos’ offer.

Roger will be fine. So I’m happy for him. I probably would have done the same if I was in the same boat. Who could have turned down a $30 million a year contract? But it should never have gotten to that point, Nakajima said.

Nike still sells millions and millions of Jordans. When was the last time Michael played? It’s been many, many years. They could have done the same thing to Roger. In the years to come, they could have created shoes with the RF logo.

In the book, Nakajima describes how Nike hit lightning in a bottle with a young Swiss player.

He was up and coming, one of the best juniors,” Nakajima said. We took him along and I immediately realized that he is naturally charismatic and well spoken. And I found out that he knew he was going to be great.

Despite this inner confidence, Federer became one of the most widely admired athletes in history.

People love to hate successful people. They are jealous. But it always amazes me that nobody ever says anything negative about Roger, Nakajima said.

Because he describes himself to others, he is loved by others. He treats others with respect, knows the audience and knows how to adjust his conversation based on his audience. He can talk to adults and children.

I’ve had an event where he was supposed to be there for an hour and was there for four hours. Four hours! Who does that? He knows these people are watching him play. These are the people who give him sponsors. He gets it.

As for the other members of tennis’ Big Three, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal Nakajima say they will never match Federers popularity.

(Djokovic) could very well be the most successful tennis player of all time. But there is always a dark cloud around him, he said.

It’s like he brings it on himself. He hits a linewoman at the US Open and gets disqualified? It happens, I guess.

But why does that always happen to Novak? Or the whole controversy about the Covid-19 vaccine. Now as a brand: do I want to be behind someone who is always surrounded by controversy? Or do I want to go with an athlete with a squeaky clean image?

Nakajima said any differences between Federer and Nadal were largely a matter of intent.

I’m not sure if Rafa wants to be the highest paid supporter in the world. I don’t think he cares, she said.

Rafa is Rafa, he has done very well and I don’t think he needs anything else. Roger wanted to be marketable, so he appealed to different brands, audiences and consumer groups. And his management companies did an amazing job.