On July 6, 2003, Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Seventeen years later, the Swiss tennis player launches his first pair of sneakers. In the meantime, he has won nineteen more Grand Slam titles, accumulated a total of 103 titles, held the world No. 1 ranking for 310 weeks, and propelled tennis to the peak of its popularity. And, at almost 39 years old, Roger Federer remains the world No. 4 and the highest-paid.

Having been sidelined by a knee injury since February, he will not return to the courts until January 2021. This gives him ample time to focus on other things, such as creating a pair of… tennis shoes. It is with the Swiss brand On, of which he is a shareholder, that the tennis GOAT (Greatest of all Times) decided to collaborate to create the ROGER Center-Court 0-Series. A sleek white model with some golden touches, reminiscent of his eight Wimbledon victories. “I have been won over by the minimalist design and comfort of On shoes for many years,” Federer stated. “I wanted to transfer the same lightness to a basketball/tennis shoe, that same comfort and agility to wear every day.”

This pair of shoes, which will be worn everywhere except on the court, is also environmentally friendly. “This new generation of sneakers has been created in a more eco-friendly way,” explains David Allemann, co-founder of On. THE ROGER is made of vegan leather and has been designed to be lightweight, with the aim of reducing raw material consumption. The result is a much lower ecological impact for this product. Vegan leather accounts for just 30% of the footprint that animal leather can have.”

Unfortunately, this historic sneaker will not be for everyone. The ROGER Center-Court 0-Series is indeed a limited edition, available only through a draw on on-running.com/theroger until July 8, 2020. For the “modest” sum of €239.95. We will definitely register.

The article was originally published on AllinReplica France