By | Tanner Simkins | www.entrepreneur.com
Wimbledon‘s Men’s Singles Champions kicked off on Monday, June 27, 2022, with one notable tennis player absent from center court. Roger Federer, who holds the record for the most Wimbledon Tennis Championships won with 8 titles in total, won’t be at this year’s competition due to a knee injury he sustained in 2021. Shortly after he played in Wimbledon 2021, the athlete received surgery on his right knee, according to Yahoo! Sport, and although a Wimbledon return wasn’t possible with his journey to recovery, tennis fans still hope to see the Wimbledon champion play in the U.S. Open scheduled for August 20, 2022.
The last time Federer won the Wimbledon tournament was in 2017, which came as redemption after losing to Milos Raonic who was then defeated by Andy Murray for the Wimbledon title in 2016. Although Federer walked away defeated that year, it appears the loss inspired him to return back to the Wimbledon village stronger.
Even in defeat, there are valuable lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Federer. With 20 Grand Slam victories and $130 million in career prize money, per Forbes, Federer has leveraged his on-court success to create a very deep off-court branding and endorsement portfolio, which includes his 2018 ten-year deal with Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo for a whopping $300 million. Thanks to his lucrative endorsement deals, he was ranked as the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2020, according to the outlet, but has since fallen to No. 7 on the list in 2022.
