Nike’s longtime former tennis director has slammed the company’s split with tennis legend Roger Federer.
Federer left Nike in 2018 after 24 years, signing a $300 million 10-year contract with Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo.
It was a number Nike felt was beyond its reach for a tennis player, but now Mike Nakajima — who worked with stars like John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi before Nike signed Federer as a 13-year-old — has broken ranks.
“That should never have happened. For us to let somebody like that go, it’s an atrocity,” Nakajima told the authors of the book The Roger Federer Effect.
“Roger Federer belonged with Nike for the rest of his career. Just like Michael Jordan. Like LeBron James, like Tiger Woods. He’s right up there with the all-time greatest Nike athletes ever. 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 business but remains connected to Nike as his wife, brother and one of his sons work there, per CNN.
He said Nike already had the model on how to approach Federer’s non-playing years because of what they’d done with basketball legend Jordan. And he didn’t blame the 20-time grand slam winner for accepting Uniqlo’s offer.
“Roger is going to be fine. So I’m happy for him. I probably would have done the same thing if I were in the same boat. Who might have turned down a $30 million a year contract? But it should have never gotten to that point,” Nakajima said.
“Nike is still selling millions and millions of pairs of Jordans. When’s the last time Michael played? It’s been many, many years. They could have done the same thing for Roger. For years to come, they could have created shoes with an RF logo.”
