Naomi Osaka features alongside Carlos Alcaraz in brand new Nike promo
In a recent Nike promo, Naomi Osaka starred with fellow professional Carlos Alcaraz as well as well-known athletes from other fields like Caitlin Clark and Alejandro Garnacho.
The former world No 1 has been away from the game for a spell after first being sidelined by injury and then announcing that she was pregnant.
Having given birth to her daughter Shai, Osaka has committed to getting back onto the court.
She has a good relationship with sponsor Nike, who have backed her for some time.
While she was away from the game it didn’t prevent her from repping the brand as the promo video shows with Osaka clad in NikeTech gear while clearly pregnant.
The video also features Spanish World No 1 Alcaraz, who was shown loving his new set of NikeTech gear.
Chloe Kim, Alejandro Garnacho, Caitlin Clark, Tyler Adams, Yang Liwei, and Saquon Barkley are among the other famous athletes who also appear in the film.
American Olympic hero Felix helped pave the path for how sponsors today handle female athletes who are pregnant, according to Osaka’s agent Stuart Duguid, who has been working with the four-time Grand Slam champion for eight years.
When Nike demanded that Felix accept a 70% wage reduction after learning of her pregnancy, Felix decided to go public with her conflict with the sportswear company by writing an opinion piece for the New York Times. Although it ultimately caused her to leave NIKE, the business, like with many others, gradually changed its philosophy to make sure pregnant women do not receive such unfavourable treatment.
On the most recent episode of the Mountaintop Conversations by Saysh podcast, Duguid admitted he was worried about the sponsors’ reactions after he told them Osaka was expecting a baby.
“Obviously when Naomi first told me it was like just obviously delighted for her and happy for her, but then there’s the moment where you realize you have to make all these calls [to the sponsors],” Duguid said.#
Prior to co-founding EVOLVE with Osaka, Duguid worked for Lagardere Sports and IMG. He said that nearly every interaction he had with the sponsors of the four-time Grand Slam winner proceeded without a hitch. He said that he thought of NIKE as the most significant sponsor and that, as a result of Felix’s fight a few years ago, they were extremely understanding of Osaka’s pregnancy.
“I would say, say almost every single conversation went really, really well. I’ll be very honest, the most important conversation for me and for us was probably our Nike conversation, which wasn’t really a conversation thanks to what you had done. So that situation was already covered in the past. There was a cause in the contract which defined exactly what would happen if Naomi was pregnant and that all came on the back of your experience with that,” he said.
“We have to give them a lot of credit, I think they learned so many lessons from your experience too. I think they’ve been great with it in terms of ‘do you want to keep your line going? Do you want to do stuff in maternity? Do you want to do baby?’ Like, they’ve given you all the options and being great and I think that is all due to you. So, thank you,” he added.
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