For Adidas Tennis, a Divided Dress Code

The sportswear brand closes off earning opportunities for women's tennis players that are left open for men.

WIMBLEDON, England — In his run to the Wimbledon men’s quarterfinals, Felix Auger-Aliassime wore the logos of his sponsors Air Canada and Polestar above the three Adidas stripes on his sleeves.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, with sponsor logos visible on his sleeves. (Photo by Mark Peterson / Corleve)

In his run to the Wimbledon men’s semifinals, Alexander Zverev wore the logos of his sponsors Bitpanda and MiniMed above the three Adidas stripes on his sleeves.

Alexander Zverev at Wimbledon. (Photo by Maja Smiejkowska/AP)

But in her run to the Wimbledon women’s semifinals, Karolina Muchova has had no logos above the tri-striped sleeves on her own very similar Adidas “Climacool” shirt.

Karolina Muchova at Wimbledon this year. (Photo by Sipa US)

This is not a coincidence: it has become Adidas corporate policy in recent years, Bounces has learned from conversations with agents and players, to block women’s tennis players from the sponsorship earning opportunities that the men on their roster are allowed to benefit from.

This Adidas policy, which I first began looking into last year, would serve to further increase the stubborn overall earnings gap between male and female tennis players.

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