Andrey Rublev's contract termination with Nike caught many off guard, including fellow ATP player Reilly Opelka, who wondered what happened.
Apart from earning money from various sport-unrelated sponsors, tennis players have deals also with equipment and apparel sponsors, and one of the most popular is obviously the American giant Nike.
Nike had an exclusive contract with several tennis players, but as of recently, they terminated most of them. Players like Sloane Stephens, Marta Kostyuk, Marketa Vondrousova, Donna Vekic, and Andrey Rublev saw their contracts terminated.
These players allegedly failed to achieve the performance standards, which included winning tournaments and rising in the rankings. It makes sense with some of them, up until you meet Rublev, a Top-10 tennis player who has won competitions every year he has played.
The Russian won 41 matches in 2020, 53 in 2021, and 51 in 2022, and during those three seasons, he managed to win 10 ATP titles, while finishing every single season in the Top 10.
He's one of the most prominent figures on the Tour, even though he lacks a major title, and many started discussing why his contract was terminated. Some wonder whether the launch of his own brand 'Rublo' was the reason for the termination, or whether it was a reaction to it.
One of the people that couldn't understand why the Russian doesn't have a contract with Nike anymore was Reilly Opelka.
The American doesn't why away from expressing his views on Twitter, and commenting on the matter, eh singled out Rublev as a player who is in the Top 8 of the ATP Rankings, and on top of that, he's one of the players who likes to play many tournaments during a season, giving the brand wanted exposure.
"Rublev is top 8 in the world tho.. also plays every single week."
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