Tenro Holding AG, the company that handles Roger Federer’s business interests has filed for four trademarks, “The Roger Clubhouse”, “The Roger Wildcard”, “The Roger Centre Court” and “The Roger Advantage” in recent months.

Tenro Holdings AG, which houses Federer’s intellectual property and real estate assets, also operates Roger Federer’s website, rogerfederer.com. In February 2020, the company regained control of the “RF” logo from Nike. The company also owns the “R.” logo which features the letter R followed by a dot and the “The Match for Africa” logo.

A few weeks ago, Federer announced the launch of Uniqlo caps with the “RF” logo. The Uniqlo caps, which come in 8 colors, also featured the “ROGER” logo at the back.

Federer is the Chairman of Tenro Holding AG. He continues to control the company though he resigned from the Board of Directors in 2018.

Learning lessons from the Nike Debacle

Federer left his long-term sponsor Nike for Uniqlo in July 2018 for a contract worth $300 million over 10 years. But Nike didn’t immediately release the “RF” logo to Federer and continued to sell products with the logo. It was only in February 2020 that Federer regained control of the logo when it was transferred from Nike to Tenro Holdings.

Federer was not going to make the same mistake with his investment in Swiss shoemaker, On. Federer’s team understood that Federer needs to own the logos himself and not leave them with his sponsors and investment companies. In 2019, Federer transferred the On shoe logos, “The Roger” and “Roger” to Tenro.

Like the “RF” logo, The Roger” and “Roger” logos are unlikely to become problems in the future since Federer is an investor in On. His investment in the company is reported as $50 to $100 million. The logo will become an issue only when Federer decides to break up the partnership. But it looks like he wanted to protect the logos in case something goes wrong in the future.

Monetizing Brand Federer

By holding the logos, Tenro can collect royalties from the use of these logos. Uniqlo certainly is paying Federer for using his logo on his caps.  That is also true with On, though Federer is an investor there.

Forays into Cosmetics

In 2003, Federer launched a fragrance and cosmetics line called RF Cosmetics. The sales were disappointing and the company was liquidated in 2009.

Retirement ahead but RF brand is a cash cow

Federer is almost 40 and is not likely to play for more than a few years. But the Roger Federer brand will continue to generate cash for him for many years.