Billionaire Roger Federer’s $7,000,000 Ingenious Move Paved the Way for Rivals Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray to Shine Through as They Replicated His Style Statement

Roger Federer is one of the few athletes who is heavily favored by several companies worldwide. The Swiss Maestro has a clean image that attracts brands like an ant to sugar. As he was gaining popularity in his teenage years due to his amazing performances on the tennis court, Federer inked his first contract with Nike in 1994. Ever since then, his market value scaled to new heights. With the newfound fame, Federer was one of the first players who had a logo designed in his name. This created a trend among top players, and many ended up creating their own logos.  

The RF logo became a separate part of Nike’s marketing campaign. However, after Federer and Nike split, a legal battle ensued as the apparel brand did not want to let the RF logo go. But after some discussion, Tenro AG, Federer’s acquisition brand, was able to wrest away the logo from Nike in 2020.

How Roger Federer became a trendsetter?

Nike and Roger Federer became partners quite early in Federer’s life. The apparel company signed on the Swiss Maestro when he was just 13, in 1994. Later as Federer bagged slam after slam, Nike jumped on a chance to create a signature line with the Swiss Maestro.

Nike then aimed to make Federer popular in the US. Mike Nakajima, former CEO of Nike, talked about how the company is one of the best at marketing athletes. While Federer earned his fame due to winning championships,  it was the venture of the sports apparel brand which pushed his name even further, as per the Nakajima. 

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Eventually, as part of their campaign, the RF logo came into existence. In 2006, Federer first showed the logo to the tennis world. He walked into Wimbledon, donning a white and gold cardigan that showed the logo on its left breast pocket.

After Federer’s logo increased immensely in popularity, several other players followed suit. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal all created their personal logos.

Nakajima talked about this in Federer’s autobiography, ‘The Roger Federer Effect’.

He said, “Many top athletes started to get signature lines because that became a bargaining chip for companies to sign them. If you sign with us, we’ll create your own logo, and we will create a shoe that you’ll get royalties on. Which athletes will say, ‘No, I don’t want that’.“

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At the moment, the RF logo is worth close to $7 million, and the brand itself is almost worth $27 million. While he may be out of tennis, as someone who is associated with many brands, the Swiss Maestro is just getting started.