Why brands prefer Federer over Djokovic

Former Nike tennis director Mike Nakajima suggests Roger Federer was well-positioned to become a big brand, while Novak Djokovic coming from Serbia was something Nike considered when discussing whether or not to sign the Serb.

When Federer was just 14, he was spotted by Nike and the renowned sports clothing brand signed the Swiss to an endorsement deal. In 2018, Federer announced stunning news when he left Nike to sign a 10-year deal with UNIQLO.

Nadal, who created one of the best rivalries in all sports with Federer, is also endorsed by Nike. But Djokovic - a 22-time Grand Slam champion - was never a member of the Nike family.

 “Nothing against Novak — he’s a great player, speaks well, and can become the greatest player of all time.

But from a marketing point of view, we felt that Serbia wasn’t a big market for us so we took that into consideration. Switzerland wasn’t all that big either, but when [Federer] became 'The Roger Federer,' he became a global athlete and that’s good enough for us.

Nike thought Roger was a very promising young athlete, and we could see that the game was moving in Europe," Nakajima told Talking-Tennis. When it comes to Nadal, Nakajima suggested Spain was already a big market for Nike and their target was to have Federer and the Spaniard as the faces of their brand in the tennis world.

“Spain is a huge market for Nike, and Rafa has a huge following, so Roger and Rafa are the athletes we decided to hang our hats with, and you have to stick to your guns. When they are 16, or 17, 18 everyone knows about them, certainly our competitors do, so we focus on 11, 12, 13, and 14-year-olds," Nakajima added.

According to reports, Federer left in Nike in 2018 because UNIQLO jumped in with a much better financial offer.