Challengers starring Zendaya, is now running in theatres worldwide successfully. The sports drama by Luca Guadagnino has already enthralled people like Serena Williams. The movie, which loosely originated from the Serena Williams vs Naomi Osaka match from the US Open 2018, has displayed 5 important elements from Roger Federer’s career. This is apart from what Serena Williams recently said in an interview that the film’s storyline resembled Roger Federer and his wife Mirka since she went on to coach him, giving up a promising tennis career of her own.
Keen-eyed observers will have noticed it, and others will rush to watch this movie again after this revelation. But Challengers doesn’t fall short of real-life tennis references and in a way, paying homage to the Swiss legend Roger Federer.
The movie is about Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) who was a junior college tennis star until she was forced to abandon her dreams after a brutal leg injury. After that, Tashi starts coaching her husband Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), who is a multiple Grand Slam winner but lost his form and confidence, which is why he plans to stage a comeback in an ATP Challengers event. As luck would have it, Art plays in the Challengers against Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), who happens to be Tashi’s former flame and Art’s former best friend. This twisted love triangle in the backdrop of tennis, forms the plot of the movie Challengers.
Firstly, when Art and Patrick were playing each other, they were both seen wearing ‘On’ shoes. Roger Federer is the brand ambassador and shareholder of On Running, which is based out of Switzerland.
Secondly, in another scene, Art (Faist) was wearing a Uniqlo t-shirt. Now, there couldn’t have been a bigger homage to Roger Federer from the point of view of brands and endorsements. Federer has a longstanding relationship with Uniqlo. As per Forbes, he has a deal of $300 million with the Japanese brand for 10 years.
Thirdly, in many scenes, both Art and Tashi were playing with Wilson racquets. Wilson and Federer had a long-standing deal since the beginning of the Swiss legend’s career. Wilson manufactured Federer’s custom-made Pro Staff RF97 Autograph racquet, with a 97 square inch head.
Fourthly, the movie shows the characters frequently play the one-handed backhand shot, one that Federer was an expert at.
One other interesting connection of the movie to Roger Federer was Mary Joe Fernandez. Fernandez was seen in her regular role of a pundit on ESPN in the film to give it a real look when she was on TV. Fernandez is a former tennis player who is married to Tony Godsick, the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s former agent and now business partner. Federer and Godsick together own the Laver Cup.
Fernandez has been a huge supporter of the Swiss, especially from the media world. Federer is also well-acquainted with their family and her son Nicholas Godsick, who he met in Stanford earlier this year.
Although the makers made no mention of it, Federer’s fans would like to believe that the film pays a huge tribute to him, who may also have had some input behind these brand placements.
Roger Federer’s Business Acumen Is the Secret Behind His Flow of Income
Roger Federer retired with more than $130 million in prize money – 3rd in the list of all-time leader in earnings. However, his smart business moves and involvement with growing brands has only diversified his portfolio and improved his net worth after retiring.
Although there is no news about Roger Federer’s direct involvement in the product placements in ‘Challengers’, his enormous role in those brands would make it a shocking matter if he wasn’t aware about it. Therefore, this could be a masterplan from Federer to promote the brands inside the film indirectly via Team8.
Product placement is a market strategy that movies have long-employed (look at Omega, Aston Martin and James Bond films for example). Brands like On, Uniqlo, Wilson played the right card with the movie ‘Challengers’. Federer has already helped raise On’s IPO to $746 million. If he continues this way, he will surely help expand all his businesses even further.
