If someone said they’d pay you thousands and thousands of dollars to wear a shoe, how bad would a shoe have to be for you not to wear it?
I’m asking that of Novak Djokovic today.
Djokovic is the third ranked men’s tennis player in the world. He’s also adidas’ top endorser, given that both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are sponsored by Nike.
Djokovic had adidas logos all over his apparel at yesterday’s first round match at Wimbledon against Michael Berrer. But his most important piece of equipment was his shoes. And it appears like he was wearing Nikes.
Djokovic did an excellent job--maybe the best we’ve seen--at whiting out what is a black Air logo on the tongue and on the Nike swoosh on the side of the shoe. Unfortunately, we here at Sports Biz, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, have too many good sources at the All England Tennis Club, who tipped us off.
Take a look at the image of Djokovic’s shoe during the match and then compare it to Nike Air Max Breathe Cage II’s. You can see on the tongue where he covered up the Nike logo and the air holes are just a total giveaway. Plus, the fact that his regular adidas shoes have three black stripes on it.