Roger Federer – the Best Paid Athlete in the World of Luxury Watches
By wining Andy Murray in the Wimbledon 2012 Final, Roger Federer definitely became the best player in the history. The Swiss tennis star won his 17th career Grand Slam title, increasing the gap between him and Pete Sampras who has 14 titles. With his seventh victory at Wimbledon, Federer tied Sampras on the list of the best players at the world’s most renowned tennis tournament.
Federer - Wimbledon 2012 Winner
Before the historic Grand Slam inLondon, Federer needed to spend just one more week at the top of the ATP List to break the Sampras’ record – 286 weeks spent as the best player. After glorious victory against the world’s number 1 Novak Djokovic in semi-finals and later, against the best British player, in the Wimbledon Final, Federer returned the first place of ATP rankings, for the first time since June 2010. Thus, another record was broken.
Having a partnership with a player who has been on the top for more than a decade is a great privilege and a highly profitable deal. Among those companies that were comfortable establishing long-term relationships with Federer, there is the renowned Swiss watchmaker Rolex which signed an endorsement deal with the Swiss pro, back in 2006, worth up to $15 million over roughly ten years, which was the greatest watch deal ever signed with an athlete.
Roger Federer - Rolex Milgauss Watch
It is interesting that Federer signed his first contract with the luxury watch brand in 2002, but that deal was dissolved in June of 2004 when the tennis icon signed a five-year contract with Maurice Lacroix, thus becoming the ambassador of another high-end Swiss watchmaker. However, Rolex managed to bring back its most important ambassador just two years later, by signing the ten-year deal. Previously, Federer had paid a “breakup fee” to Lacroix to end his partnership with the company.
One of the world’s most famous sportsmen has also signed 10-year deals with Nike, Wilson and Swiss coffee machine maker Jura. His partnership with Jura will bring him around $16 million for seven years, while according to the 10-year Nike contract extension that he signed in 2008, Federer earns more than $11.6 million annually. Beside these breathtaking figures, Federer has valuable deals with Gillette, Emmi, Mercedes-Benz, Nationale Suisse and Swiss International Air Lines, which along with his salaries from tournaments classify him among the world’s richest athletes.
Roger Federer - Rolex Daytona Watch
According to Forbes, Federer’s total earnings between June 2011 and June 2012 went to $52.7 million, which makes him the fifth highest paid athlete. He earned $7.7 million on court and $45 million from endorsements.
Player’s Biography
Federer was born on 8 August, 1981, in Binningen, Switzerland. Since his parents are Swiss national Robert Federer and South African-born Lynette Durand, of Dutch and French Huguenot ancestry, Roger holds both Swiss and South African citizenship and speaks Swiss German, German, French and English fluently.
Federer is married to former WTA player Mirka Vavrinec and they have two children, twin girls Myla Rose and Charlene Riva. Roger and Mirka met each other while both were competing forSwitzerlandin the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
After he won the Junior Wimbledon Tournament in 1998, Federer was waiting for three years to get the first professional title, at Milan Indoor tournament where he defeated Julien Boutter. In 2002, the great player won his first Masters at the 2002Hamburgtournament on clay. By beating Marat Safin in the finals, Federer entered ATP’s Top 10 for the first time. Next year, he accomplished the dream of every tennis player by wining his first Grand Slam singles title atWimbledon. The first Grand Slam hard-court title that he had won at the Australian Open, in 2004, brought Federer the number 1 position for the first time in his career. During the year, Swiss pro won three Grand Slam singles titles, becoming the first one who achieved that since Mats Wilander in 1988.
Roger Federer
Ever since, Roger has been breaking records, one by one, playing against superb opponents, such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and other great players. He won 75 single titles, including 17 Grand Slams in record 24 finals he played. He won titles at all four Grand Slam events (also: Perry, Budge, Laver, Emerson, Agassi, Nadal). However, only Roger, Agassi and Nadal won these tournaments on three different surfaces. Federer reached the finals of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times. He reached the most consecutive Grand Slam’s semi-finals (23; Wimbledon 2004 – Australian Open 2010) and the most consecutive quarter-finals at Grand Slam tournaments (33; since Wimbledon 2004). Furthermore, he participated in record 32 Grand-Slam semifinals.
Roger Federer - 2009 French Open Winner
From 2 February, 2004 to 18 August, 2008, Federer spent 237 consecutive weeks at number one of the world rankings, which is just another parameter that makes him the best player of all times. He is not just the best tennis player. He was awarded 4 times by Laureus Sports Award as the World Sportsman of the Year (2005-2008). Three times in a row, Federer received L’Equipe’s Champion of Champions award (2005-2007); five times, he was ITF’s Player of the Year (2004-2007, 2009), while fans marked him as their favorite player nine times (2003-2011).
By supporting a number of charities, Roger Federer gives a great contribution to society. In order to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports, he established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 2006.
