Federer sticks with what he knows best to launch tennis racket range

Roger Federer has played it safe with his RF Collection in a world swamped with sports stars launching their own businesses.

In a somewhat conservative play, Roger Federer has teamed up with Wilson, part of AMER Sports and the brand behind the Pro Staff racket that Fed used for his whole career, to launch a range of tennis rackets, bags and other gear.

Why do we think this is a conservative play? Because Federer could have tried to emulate other giants of sport and launch his own tennis equipment brand without the assistance of Wilson.

Just look at Tiger Woods with his Sun Day Red range and the number of sports influencers launching their own drinks brands such as UFC star Connor McGregor with his own whiskey brand.

Federer might be getting a revenue share of sales from Wilson or he might simply have been paid a whopping great fee to allow them to use his name and RF logo on the range, but if he’d launched his own company then he would have benefited from the revenue and the growth in value of that business plus the complete freedom to create whatever products he wanted.

And Roger has form in business. He co-owns a talent agency that manages players and hosts the popular Laver Cup. He’s also done far more adventurous deals with the likes of ON Running.

Federer has said of this new collaboration,

“Having spent my whole career playing with Wilson rackets, I’m excited about the new RF Collection that we’ve created together

“I’m honoured that Wilson is continuing my legacy by further innovating the game I love, and I hope the collection inspires the stars of today as much as I was inspired the first time that I picked up a Wilson racket.”

All rackets in the range have been built with a new technology Wilson are calling the ‘Braid 45’ which results in “enhanced pocketing feel combined with incredible stability.”

Maybe he has clauses in his contracts with other brands that forbid him from launching his own equipment company, but we’re still a little surprised by this announcement.

You can view the new RF Collection range at Wilson.com