You had to ask yourself if you watched the TV coverage of Roger Federer’s first round win in the 2014 US Open–is Nike paying extra for this? Michael Jordan in all-whites sat very visibly (he’s 6’6″ after all) in the stands next to fashion editrix Anna Wintour while Federer routed a frustrated, over-matched Marinko Matosevic. ESPN seemed to show as many shots of Federer’s new Air Jordan-like tennis shoes as it did of Federer’s museum-quality backhand. But that was just during the match. (It should be noted Matosevic was not wearing these shoes, which may have been the difference in the match!)
But it was after the match that ESPN producers apparently really said to themselves: “Just Do It.” In the post-match interview, Federer spoke about MJ’s influence on him. Picture of shoes. MJ smiled. Shot of shoes. Federer talked about his easy victory. Close up of shoes. Federer talked about the thrill of partnering with Jordan to design the new Jordan-Federer-Nike mashup. Can we get in a little closer to those shoes?, whispered an unseen producer somewhere. They did. Oh, they’re called the Zoom Vapor 9 Tour AJ3. And they cost $200. It’s possible that with them you’ll play like some combination of Roger Federer and Michael Jordan. Unlikely, but possible. (Note: shoes actually designed by the great Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield.)
