Is Blake the next American to be canned by Nike?

BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
From the looks of it, it certainly seems like Nike has lost interest and confidence in American men's tennis as evidenced by them ditching the likes of Agassi, Fish, and Ginepri in recent months. I guess Nike feels, rightly or wrongly, that tennis in the U.S. is on the decline so that it's not worth it for them to invest in the American market. Perhaps they feel it's wiser for them to invest in the international markets instead of trying to fight it out and lose tons of money trying to compete and maintain market share in the U.S.?

If so, could James Blake be the next American to lose his Nike sponsorship? It certainly appears to be the trend. :(
 
I think he will, but Nike has stood with Blake no matter if his ranking was high or low, and they never really did lose their faith in him. I would say no to your question, but seeing that they even dropped Agassi, I would have to say yes.

Maybe they are more interested in the international market... But what of Hewitt?
 
GotGame? said:
I think he will, but Nike has stood with Blake no matter if his ranking was high or low, and they never really did lose their faith in him. I would say no to your question, but seeing that they even dropped Agassi, I would have to say yes.

Maybe they are more interested in the international market... But what of Hewitt?
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My theory about Hewitt is that Nike has come to the realization that even most Aussies don't really like Hewitt and will probably not buy anything that he wears anyway. Here in the U.S., I've never seen anyone wear any of that green Nike stuff that Hewitt has been wearing recently.

In fact, an Aussie board member here posted in another thread yesterday, that in Australia, he NEVER sees anyone playing tennis in actual tennis clothes. He said everyone that he ever sees on the courts just wears regular gym shorts and plain cotton T-shirts. Thus, maybe Nike feels it's not worth paying Hewitt the big bucks in a market where nobody buys tennis apparel anyway.
 
BreakPoint said:
My theory about Hewitt is that Nike has come to the realization that even most Aussies don't really like Hewitt and will probably not buy anything that he wears anyway. Here in the U.S., I've never seen anyone wear any of that green Nike stuff that Hewitt has been wearing recently.

In fact, an Aussie board member here posted in another thread yesterday, that in Australia, he NEVER sees anyone playing tennis in actual tennis clothes. He said everyone that he ever sees on the courts just wears regular gym shorts and plain cotton T-shirts. Thus, maybe Nike feels it's not worth paying Hewitt the big bucks in a market where nobody buys tennis apparel anyway.
Click to expand...

I think more people dislike Hewitt in the States than those that like him. Most Americans do seem to gravitate to our home boys.

I thought Hewitt would have a bigger influence in Australia, since I heard tennis is more popular there. I find that strange that many here actually dress in "tennis clothes", and even if tennis is more popular in Australia, they keep dress simple(I think I like it better there now :) Or is the popularity of tennis relatively similar in both countries? Thanks for answering, Breakpoint. I never knew things were like that; it really explains Nike's reasoning.
 
USCfan said:
They could keep him, since I don't expect it will cost them much.
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man they drop hyun taik lee!!!! i bed he wasnt exactly draining the pocketbooks wiht his contract!!! they also dropped marcus bagdattis and some other young guys. its really getting out of hand.
 
why do u assume nike canned agassi and hewitt. there contracts simply ran out and mabye agassi and hewitt chose not to have them renewed. the agassi one is a whole nother ball game with adidas helping his foundation and all. as for hewitt he seems to be a highly marketable player with his ranking and high profile and im sure other clothing companies are willing to match/exceed whatever nike offers hewitt.
 
Agassi is now wearing/endorsing Adidas.

When a company declines to renew your contract, you are effectively being canned. Just like if your employer decides not to renew your employment contract, they are effectively giving you the boot.
 
ummm... breakpoint you are completely wrong. as a junior playing lots (i mean lots!) of national ranking tournaments in melbourne, nearly every junior is fitted out w/ nike apparel. 75% would wear nike, the other 25% wearing other brands. considering he's our only really top singles player, (arthurs is 34, ranked 90 something) he is the only home grown tennis player that we can look up to. asking some of my opponents who there fav players are, most say hewitt.

plus whoever wrote that they never see aussies wearing flashy tennis stuff, just gym shorts and the like, is also wrong. at some clubs, they dont let you onto the court without proper attire, (flashy, snobby clubs like kooyong lawn)

nearly all players i see (tourns, comp, inter-region) of all ages wearing tennis specific attire.

the most fav shoe though is the Barricade 3. the number of kids i see w/ 2-3 pairs is ammazing. i think aus will be bankrolling addidas for a while now, there is a two week waiting list just to get a pair. :)

my main point of view is that hewiit has a very large following over here in aus aand the no. of supporters outweighs the no. of critics, they just aren't as loud as the critics (read:media)
 
BreakPoint said:
My theory about Hewitt is that Nike has come to the realization that even most Aussies don't really like Hewitt and will probably not buy anything that he wears anyway. Here in the U.S., I've never seen anyone wear any of that green Nike stuff that Hewitt has been wearing recently.

In fact, an Aussie board member here posted in another thread yesterday, that in Australia, he NEVER sees anyone playing tennis in actual tennis clothes. He said everyone that he ever sees on the courts just wears regular gym shorts and plain cotton T-shirts. Thus, maybe Nike feels it's not worth paying Hewitt the big bucks in a market where nobody buys tennis apparel anyway.
Click to expand...

BP,

"A market where nobody buys tennis apparel". Surely you don't think it's that easy to summarise an entire nation, especially one of Australia's geographical size?

Im not sure exactly where that poster plays but you have to appreciate that while HE never sees anyone in actual tennis clothing this is a pretty huge country. So the small pocket of it that he inhabits is hardly representative of Australia as a whole. As a matter of fact, quite a number of tennis organisations stipulate that correct tennis attire must be worn during matches. That doesn't allow for gym shorts and t-shirts. During practise or social play it's a free-for-all but during competition things are quite different.

MY experience over the years has been that roughly 85% of people who play competion wear proper tennis attire but only a small percentage of social players bother with it.

Really though, a bit of common sense. Nike is expensive tennis gear and probably sits as the most expensive (here in Australia) of the available brands (Puma, Adidas, Diadora, Reebok, Nike). Price is a major factor for most people so, the less expensive brands garner more sales. If Nike isn't making great sales, in the tennis apparel category, it has almost nothing to do with a player's popularity but almost everything to do with a company pricing itself out of the market. People here loved Pat Rafter but didn't buy Reebok -in the numbers you might expect- because it was too expensive (proven in a 2003 market research survey).

Other than that, I would hazard an educated guess that more Australians wear tennis apparel that belongs to no label at all. That whole dressing like a pro and playing like a novice is something that doesn't go down too well out here.
 
I buy my tennis attire from Big-W or Target.

Rebel and other sports stores clothing ranges are mostly too expensive.

I can't justify spending obscene amounts of money on ever changing fashions.

What i wear is..

Generic white, red, blue bandana $3
Generic white cap $10
Random mismatching socks. $5
Boxers $5
Dunlop Volley shoes $25
Fabiani collared red shirt $15
Nike "agassi" shorts $25-30
Reebok Ford Aussie Open Tracksuit top $50??

About $140 tops. Pretty cheap.
 
man who cares who wears what. I didnt even know that clothing was so important in tennis till i read this board. myself and everybody i know always jsut wore white t-shirts you buy in target in pack of 6 or something. Never even realized there is a "fasion show" in tennis also....
 
Thanks for the clarification, AndrewD. I was basing my theory on what that other Aussie posted about not seeing people wear tennis apparel, and on what the media spews out about the unpopularity of Hewitt down under. But I guess the bottom line is that Nike's market share may not be as large as they would like, whether that's in spite of Hewitt or because of their high prices, I don't know. As hotdimsum posted, it seems more people wear Adidas tennis shoes than Nike tennis shoes (pretty much the same case here in the U.S. BTW).

By dropping Hewitt, who's really the only visible Aussie male pro at the moment, I can only surmise that perhaps Nike is cutting back on its investment in the Australian tennis market?
 
zenit said:
man who cares who wears what. I didnt even know that clothing was so important in tennis till i read this board. myself and everybody i know always jsut wore white t-shirts you buy in target in pack of 6 or something. Never even realized there is a "fasion show" in tennis also....
Click to expand...

of course it is, like in all sports. think of those puny speedos.
 
how do u know they dropped hewitt ? mabye his old contract gave him $4M/YR to wear nike clothes and they offered him $4M/yr again but he wants $5M/yr so he told nike forget it. or mabye there offering him less becuz hes not no 1 anymore or winnng gs tournaments. if this is the case its hewitt dropping nike not the other way around.
 
If Nike really wanted to keep Hewitt, they would have paid him what he wanted in order to keep him. Since they chose not to, they effectively "dropped" him from their payroll. Just like how Reebok dropped Roddick.
 
I think that, as regards the tennis market, Nike have erred grandly in Australia. I would suggest that they failed to read the market correctly and assumed that people here will buy on brand name and fashion alone. Huge mistake as the most popular shoe in Victoria (the biggest tennis market) is the Dunlop Volley. Most popular brand in Queensland (now the second biggest tennis market) is New Balance. Both brands are chosen because they're the best for the surfaces we play on in those two states (en tous cart in Melbourne and Rebound Ace in Qld). That is a generalisation regarding surface but they are the predominant ones in those two areas. So, any marketeer worth his or her salt would realise that they're dealing with an audience that places practicality above fashion and -with a little more research- cost well before brand name.

Even if Hewitt was the most beloved figure in our tennis history he wouldn't have been able to shift enough product to be economically viable to Nike. However, if we had the number two female player in the world then Im sure she would be worth the dollars.

Surprisingly, there is a correlation with racquets. According to the pro shops up here Wayne Arthurs moves more stock than Hewitt because less people like the Yonex racquet than the Babolat. The suggestion is that Hewitt doesn't sell racquets, not because he isn't liked, but because he doesn't play the style of game that people here want to identify with. In other words, it isn't a traditionally Australian game (even if no-one plays that way any longer they still want to identify with it). I spoke to the Head rep today and he said one of the reasons they love Agassi is because - even though he doesn't play a Rafter, Sampras or Roddick style game- he appeals right across the board.
 
BreakPoint said:
My theory about Hewitt is that Nike has come to the realization that even most Aussies don't really like Hewitt and will probably not buy anything that he wears anyway. Here in the U.S., I've never seen anyone wear any of that green Nike stuff that Hewitt has been wearing recently.

In fact, an Aussie board member here posted in another thread yesterday, that in Australia, he NEVER sees anyone playing tennis in actual tennis clothes. He said everyone that he ever sees on the courts just wears regular gym shorts and plain cotton T-shirts. Thus, maybe Nike feels it's not worth paying Hewitt the big bucks in a market where nobody buys tennis apparel anyway.
Click to expand...

This is still the case now. Only my coach and I are aware of the current and past outfits of the great players from the last decade. Nobody else would have a clue what we are wearing on any given day, even if it were to be currently in season.
 
james-blake-500.jpg

I think adidas swooped him up
 
Maybe if JB went back to his old trusty Pro Staff Classic 6.1s he would have won a major. Those Dunlops were just a curse. It seems as though he could never get his mojo going with those sticks. I've started to black out my sticks out of frustration of losing my mojo. Maybe I'll get my college forehand back on of these days. Just went out and bought a new roll of duct tape to cover my new Gel Res 6s also... I'm gonna channel JB for my 2016 amateur season!
 
Poor James Blake. I also heard he got a bad line call against him the other day playing vs. Ferrero. Those Spaniards... always looking for an edge ;)
 
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