On launches special edition THE ROGER Centre Court for Federer

The celebration comes days before Federer’ s induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport on Saturday, August 29. For the sporting goods industry, however, the significance extends beyond tennis nostalgia. The tribute week has also become a high-profile platform for On, the Swiss sportswear brand in which Federer has been an investor and product partner since 2019.

In New York: a sold-out arena on its feet for a career that had already ended. Federer, born in Basel and now 45, called it “incredible” to be back on the court where he won five US Open titles between 2004 and 2008, and where he made his Arthur Ashe debut against Agassi in 2001. Agassi and Roddick, both long-retired rivals, joked with Federer and spoke about their long friendship with him, while McEnroe, a former US Open ball boy himself, called the weekend “epic” for tennis. The stadium crowd included Serena Williams, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud.

Tribute nights are easy to make emotional. This one, closed out by a drone show over Manhattan, worked as homage not just to an athlete but to a sport that has spent two decades cycling in and out of the spotlight.

Tennis’ visibility as a spectator property rose and fell with the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era and has since had to compete with shifting media habits and a crowded field of recreational alternatives. 

Participation, however, has proven more resilient than spectatorship: European player numbers have grown in recent years and global participation has reportedly reached record levels, a backdrop we track in more detail in our Racquet Sports State of Play 2026.

The SGIE angle: why the tribute matters for On

Some of the light from a night like this one does not stay on the athlete. It reaches whatever he is standing next to, and for the past seven years that has been On. The relationship is not a standard endorsement. When Federer’s decade-long Nike deal lapsed in 2018, he became an equity investor and self-described co-entrepreneur in the then-startup.

On went public in 2021, and Federer has since helped raise the brand’s global profile, with the company now competing more aggressively with larger global sportswear brands on distribution and cultural relevance. His signature lifestyle shoe, THE ROGER, launched in July 2020, saw Federer directly involved in design decisions.

That ownership structure helps explain why Federer’s Hall of Fame induction has become more than a celebratory event for On. Alongside the tribute week, the company introduced a special edition of THE ROGER Centre Court, which includes a Hall of Fame racquet emblem on the heel. Limited to 20,000 pairs globally, the release connects one of tennis’ most recognisable careers directly to one of On’s most recognisable product franchises.

 The campaign: returning to where the story began

The product launch is paired with The Boy from Basel, a campaign film shot on location in Federer’s hometown that retraces the bike route he took as a child from his house to his local tennis club. Where the New York exhibition supplied the emotional send-off and the shoe supplied the commercial vehicle, the film supplies the narrative closure: it recounts Federer’s entire arc, from a kid on a bike in Basel to a Hall of Famer with an equity stake in a sportswear company, as a single continuous story, which is the story of a champion, but also the story of a sport.

Racquet Sports: Grand Slams, big brands, and the challengers

Tennis, padel, and pickleball. We track the business story: brand strategies, participation trends, product launches, sponsorship economics, and the major events that drive the sport.

Explore Racquet Sports →