Wow !!! Big £££££

Roger Federer nets record-breaking sponsorship deal worth £230m

After 20 years with Nike, the champion has changed team

The winner of 20 grand slams showed off his new Uniqlo kit on Centre Court yesterday, but still wore his Rolex and Nike shoes from his other sponsors.

Roger Federer used his opening match at Wimbledon to unveil the world’s most valuable sponsorship deal, worth a reported £230 million and lasting long after he is expected to retire from top-flight tennis.

The reigning men’s champion ended his career-long association with Nike and walked on to Centre Court yesterday wearing Uniqlo clothing after signing the ten-year contract.

The deal, estimated to be three times more valuable than his Nike contract, will cover Federer, 36, well into retirement and help Uniqlo to promote its colourful clothing to middle-aged sport fans. It will also cement Federer’s position as the sports star with the highest value of endorsements, which Forbes magazine calculated at £49 million a year before the latest deal.

His total earnings, including prize money, will increase to an estimated £76 million a year, making him the fourth-highest earning athlete behind the boxer Floyd Mayweather and the footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the Forbes list. His total career prize money of £85 million at the start of the year is dwarfed by earnings from endorsements. Forbes calculated that he was paid £114 million in total by Nike and last year signed an estimated £30 million deal with Barilla pasta. He also has sponsorship contracts with Credit Suisse, Rolex and Moët & Chandon.

The Uniqlo contract is likely to take his eventual lifetime earnings to in excess of £500 million. “I was excited to wear Uniqlo today. It’s been a long time coming,” he said after defeating Dusan Lajovic in straight sets.

The eight-times Wimbledon champion speaks eight languages but slipped into fluent marketing talk when announcing his new deal.

“Like Uniqlo I have love for life, culture and humanity,” said Federer in a statement issued minutes after he walked on to Centre Court wearing his new sponsor’s clothes. “We share a strong passion to have a positive input on the world around us, to look forward to combining our creative endeavours.”

Federer’s old Nike swoosh was replaced by a Uniqlo-branded white jacket, top, shorts, socks and headband while he carried a Uniqlo-branded white bag as he began the defence of his title. After his win he handed the headband to a girl in the crowd, securing valuable publicity for his new sponsor.

It was the player’s feet that highlighted the significance of his break from Nike, the brash American sports brand that has supported him throughout his professional career.

Uniqlo does not make tennis shoes so Federer was wearing his old Nikes embossed with the RF 8 logo, signifying his eight Wimbledon singles titles. The world’s most successful male tennis player now faces a battle to regain control of the famous logo, which is still owned by Nike. He said: “The RF logo is with Nike at the moment, but it will come to me at some point.”

Federer, who was sponsored by the sports giant from the age of 16, added: “I hope sooner rather 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.”

Nike refused yesterday to comment when asked whether it would continue to manufacture Federer-branded clothing or when it would hand over his logo. “We do not comment on details of athlete contracts,” a spokeswoman said.

Although Uniqlo expects to begin selling a Federer range of clothing next year, the player hopes to negotiate a new footwear deal with Nike, which is likely to be worth millions of pounds.

“For now, I will be wearing Nike,” he said. “They have shown interest to have a shoe deal with me. Ties are not broken there.”

The deal with Uniqlo did not get off to a flying start. While Federer’s entrance on to Centre Court was carefully stage-managed, it initially went largely unnoticed outside SW19 because the BBC did not broadcast the match live on its main channels.

Viewers would have had to select the “red button” channel because BBC2 showed the match involving the British player Harriet Dart, who lost in three sets to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Federer, who said the deal had been “a long time coming”, replaces Novak Djokovic, another former Wimbledon champion, as the brand ambassador for Uniqlo.

The deal is a welcome distraction for Fast Retailing, the owner of Uniqlo, which has been accused by human rights activists of allowing harsh conditions for staff at its contract factories in China and Cambodia.The company responded to the criticism by publishing details of the 146 garment factories.

Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo’s founder and chairman, welcomed his new recruit. “Mr Federer is one of the greatest champions in history; my respect for him goes beyond sport,” he said.

FEDERER’S BIG MONEY DEALS

• £23m — Annual deal with clothing brand Uniqlo, starting this year
• £1.1m — Annual Rolex deal, for ten years from 2012
• £3.8m —a year with Mercedes Benz from 2017 for ten years
• £1.5m — a year with Credit Suisse, from 2009 for ten years
• £1.8m — a year with Jura, the coffee machine maker, extended in 2015 until 2020. Been with them since 2006
• £4.6m — a year with Moet & Chandon from 2012 until 2017. Renewal expected
• £6.1m — a year for five years since 2017 for Barilla, the pasta maker
• £3m — a year from 2017 to 2022 with Lindt
• £1.5m — a year lifetime contract with Wilson, the sporting goods company
• £4.6m — a year since 2004 with Netjets, which sells shares in private jets
• £5.3m — from Sunrise, the Swiss telecoms company, from 2014 for at least five years
• £56.3m — Yearly total