After several weeks of speculation that Simona Halep‘s replacement for Adidas will be Nike, we finally have an official confirmation by the Romanian that from now on she’ll sport the Swoosh.
The 26-year-old posted the above photo on social media, saying:
Just do it. I just did it.
Even before Halep confirmed the new partnership, we all noticed that she debuted Nike gear during this past weekend’s Fed Cup. Because of an ankle injury sustained at the Australian Open, Halep wasn’t in Romania’s line-up against Canada, but she was in Cluj-Napoca to support her teammates, who defeated their opponents 3-1 in the World Group II first round.
As you know, Halep’s deal with Adidas expired on January 1st and because of some misunderstandings and failure to agree on the value of a new contract, Halep, then ranked No.1 in the world, kicked off the 2018 season without a clothing sponsor, wearing a red outfit she ordered online from a seamstress in China.
The contract with Nike is reported to be worth $2 million a year, which is about $800,000 more than Halep’s former agreement with Adidas.
It was scandalous that top women’s tennis player had to play tournaments in unbranded clothes, even more so because she started the year by winning the Shenzhen Open title and reaching the Australian Open final. Order in the tennis fashion universe is finally restored!
Halep is scheduled to play the Qatar Total Open in Doha, so we will soon see which Nike range the world No.2 will wear, as she faces Ekaterina Makarova in the second round, after a first-round bye.
I’m honestly glad that Simona found a sponsor but I am a little irritated that’s it’s Nike. She will be wearing the Over- Swoosh Gear that many thousands of other players are wearing. I was hoping that another company like Asics, Lacoste or Fila would sign her because at least there are a variety of outfits. The only other collection that Nike had besides the standard is the Sharapova collection, which can obvioulsy be counted out for obvious reasons. I just hope that she looks good and hopefully can win a grand slam with her new Nike Swoosh.
Nathan C, I agree, I’d also prefer Simona in some less common brand. I think she would look good in New Balance and Fila.