The Roger Federer brand

Roger Federer is one of the strongest personal brands in the world (not only for sports) today. He reached the top position of the Forbes Fab Top 40 and is affiliated with other powerful brands such as Nike, Wilson, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Credit Suisse and Moët & Chandon. The Roger Federer brand is valued at $37 million a year.

Federer is turning 36 years old in 2017 and his massive fan base worry that this might his last full season on the ATP World Tour. He hasn’t given a firm date on his retirement himself, but once he does shelf his Wilson Pro Staff Autograph RF 97 racquets, a whole tennis world will weep (a lot of fans literally) and the tour will need to look for a new star to fill his Nike Vapor Tour 9.5s.

What Federer has become is nothing short of a phenomenon. He is a fantastic player with both the results and the racquet wizardry to prove it, but he also so revered as a person and even managed to win the GQ Most Stylish Man of the Year award.

So with all Federer’s success on and off the court, can he come back for another slam to add to his tally of 17? This is really the main question of 2017. Most fans believe it, most experts are doubtful. Federer is usually labelled the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) and doesn’t really need to win another slam to prove it, but the fans crave more success and it somehow feels fair to most of the tennis world for the Swiss legend to get another big title under his belt before retirement. He has been close with two Wimbledon finals in 2014-2015, both times beaten by Novak Djokovic.

It will surely be one of the interesting stories to follow as we count down to the next tennis season. And while we do we can watch Federer practice, as he aired his Dubai practice with Lucas Pouille from Dubai via Periscope.

By the way, what do you think about the new Nike Court collection? I use this myself and really like the wear, although the design can get a bit “busy” in some iterations.

Roger Federer practices live via Periscope with Lucas Pouille in Dubai.

If you want to use the same gear as Roger, besides the RF 97 Autograph racquet he has also released a signature series of tennis balls as well as a line of tennis bags and of course the above mentioned Nike gear and shoes.

Personally, I find the Federer Autograph a nice racquet, but a little bit too stiff for my taste. I do like the Nike Vapor Tour 9.5 shoes as well, but prefer the durability and stability of the Asics Gel Resolution 6, I do use the Wilson Elite RF tennis bag and find it great, but have heard that there might be some durability issues depending on usage (but I guess that goes for all bags).

I’m sure we will see more and more Federer products. Just look at the ambitious Roger Federer Collection at Nike.com and buy tennis related Federer products at Tennis Express – there seems to be almost no limits for the most powerful personal brand in sports.

It is obvious that the Federer brand is here to stay. Let’s just hope that Federer as a player stays with us for at least two more years as well. Judging by today’s practice via Periscope, he sure looks ready for a new season and it’s obvious he still is keen to work hard and fight even harder to remain a force on the ATP tour.