If you are wondering what Roger Federer has been up to since his loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open, the answer is finally here.  He has been busy shooting a commercial for Uniqlo.

As you may remember, Federer ditched his long time sponsor Nike to go with Uniqlo last year.  Federer’s deal with Uniqlo is reportedly worth $30M a year for 10 years.  Federer has said that Uniqlo offered better post-career opportunities than Nike.

Here is the commercial.  Roger is playing piano in comfortable jeans!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOKEvDqpBjE

Uniqlo had Novak Djokovic under its umbrella for almost 6  years and couldn’t capitalize on his success.  I wonder if the company is doing the same thing with Federer.

Federer is a global sports icon.  You would think that Uniqlo (and its ad agency) would be able to come up with a better ad than that.

Uniqlo missed the mark big time on this one.

Davis Cup will be played under the new format in 2019.  Response to the new format has been mixed.

Here’s how it works in a nutshell.

• 24 teams will vie for 12 spots (qualifiers) in the Finals that will take place in November. The losing teams will move on to Zone Group competition.
• These 12 qualifiers, 4 semifinalists from the previous year, and 2 wildcard entries will compete in the Final in November.
• These 18 teams will face off in six round-robin groups of three. The six group winners, and the two second-place teams with the best records, will move on to the quarterfinals
• From that quarterfinals, competition will be single elimination to decide the Davis Cup winner.