Sponsorships and Business Ventures
Djokovic endorses Serbian telecommunications company Telekom Srbija and German nutritional supplement brand FitLine.
Since turning professional in 2003, Djokovic wore Adidas clothing and footwear. At the end of 2009, Djokovic signed a 10-year deal with the Italian clothing company Sergio Tacchini after Adidas refused to extend his clothing contract (choosing instead to sign Andy Murray). Since Sergio Tacchini doesn't make shoes, he continued with Adidas as his choice of footwear. Djokovic's sponsorship contract with Tacchini was incentive heavy, and due to Djokovic's disproportionate success and dominance in 2011, the company fell behind on payments and ended the sponsorship contract. From 2011, Djokovic began to wear custom Red and Blue Adidas Barricade 6.0's shoes, referring to the colours of the Serbian national flag. On 23 May 2012, Uniqlo has appointed Djokovic as its global brand ambassador. The five-year partnership, will see Djokovic promoting the Uniqlo brand where Djokovic debut his newly designed Uniqlo match wear to spectators in Paris' Roland-Garros French Open Tennis Tournament and to a worldwide TV audience on 27 May.
Djokovic did television commercial spots and print ads for supermarket chain Idea, the Serbian arm of Croatian supermarket retailer Konzum as well as for rival Serbian supermarket chain DIS Trgovina.
In August 2011, Djokovic became the brand ambassador of Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet. Less than a month later, Djokovic signed a sponsorship deal with German car company Mercedes-Benz. In March 2012, Djokovic was announced by Bombardier Aerospace as its latest Learjet brand ambassador, thus joining the likes of actor and pilot John Travolta, architect Frank Gehry, maestro Valery Gergiev, and classical pianist Lang Lang.
Since 2004, the business end of Djokovic's career has been handled by Israeli managers Amit Naor (former pro tennis player turned sports agent) and Allon Khakshouri, the duo that also had Marat Safin and Dinara Safina as their clients. In June 2008, after the duo entered into partnership with CAA Sports, the sports division of Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency, meaning that the famous company started representing tennis players for the first time, Djokovic formally signed with CAA Sports.
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