New-look Fedex straight back in the old routine
Roger Federer caused a stir when he began his quest for a ninth Wimbledon title with a new logo on his chest but everything else looked familiar as he crushed Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 in glorious Centre Court sunshine on Monday. The 36-year-old’s whites were missing the usual swish and the familiar RF emblem were gone after the 20-times grand slam champion ditched longterm kit supplier Nike in favour of Japan’s Uniqlo brand.
The top seed’s new sponsor only got one hour 19 minutes of airtime as Federer began in stunning fashion - dashing off the first set in 20 minutes - and never looking remotely troubled as he sauntered into the second round.
Lajovic shook off his early nerves to at least give Federer some practice in the second and third sets but the Serbian could do no better than last year when he also suffered a straight-sets defeat by the Swiss, that time in the second round.
“I felt very good from the start which is nice,” Federer, who has now one 24 consecutive sets at the All England Club after blazing to the title last year without dropping one, said. “
While thousands of fans around Centre Court wore baseball caps displaying the RF logo, Federer can no longer use it as the design is owned by Nike, an equipment company that had sponsored the Swiss during all of his previous record 20 Grand Slam wins.
Federer, who wore a plain white bandana with two small red squares on the side has yet to comment on the switch to the Japanese casual wear designer.
The top seed, however, was wearing Nike footwear as Uniqlo do not manufacture shoes.
Uniqlo issued a statement to confirm it had signed the 36-yearold Swiss as a global brand ambassador.
“UNIQLO, the Japanese global apparel retailer, announces today a partnership with Roger Federer, the greatest tennis player of all-time and one of the world’s most influential and universally admired people, as its newest Global Brand Ambassador,” it said.
“The new partnership means that Mr Federer will represent UNIQLO at all tennis tournaments throughout the year, starting with The Championships, Wimbledon 2018.”
While no financial details were revealed, media reported the new deal will be worth around $30 million a year, compared with the $10 million dollars a year agreement Federer had with Nike.
LONDON: