Bianca Andreescu gives Nike a dressing down at US Open before issuing apology
Posted on January 21, 2013
LONDON – Bianca Andreescu has given Nike a dressing down for their lack of forethought and for being out of touch with today’s fast-changing tennis game, with the Australian admitting she was wrong to suggest the company was “not paying attention” to tennis.
The 26-year-old former Wimbledon champion, the youngest ever women’s singles quarter-finalist at the US Open, was a guest of Nike on Thursday (January 19) at the company’s headquarters after the tennis governing body decided to ban the running shoe company from future events.
Andreescu was asked if she had any “complaints” about her interactions with Nike.
“No complaints at all,” she replied. “I just said that I saw this coming. I thought I was a little bit safe but you can’t win the tournaments without any kind of success and that’s what happened. That’s what happened. But you can’t win by just sitting there. You have to make sure that you’re ready and you have to make sure you’re ready for the other players as well as yourself as a competitor.”
Andreescu then made an apology for what she described as “a mistake”.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” she said. “I think that was a little bit out of line because we’re all very passionate people, we’re all very excited when we do tournaments. It’s great, if you’re the person that is sitting in charge of the tournament, at the front desk, you have to make sure that you’re on top of all of the announcements in a very timely and efficient manner so everyone can enjoy the tournament. We have to make sure that we’re paying attention to all the details.”
Andreescu, who is now preparing for the 2013 Sydney International, has been a big talker lately, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue and writing an open letter on the subject of the running shoe company’s “misleading and offensive” marketing to women.
Nike, Andreescu pointed out, was never