Federer issues apology to his fans in Pakistan.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: One day ahead of India’s World Cup opener against arch-rival Pakistan, tennis phenom Roger Federer posted a photo of himself on Facebook holding an Indian cricket jersey, along with the caption: “Dressing up for a Gentleman’s game today. #BleedBlue.”
The seemingly innocuous gesture caused quite the stir in Pakistan, with many fans announcing over social media that they were cutting ties with the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
“After you posted the picture, I did an informal poll of the dozen biggest Pakistani Roger fans I know. All very serious fans, mind you. Two of them were not bothered by the picture. But 10 of the 12 felt seriously hurt or betrayed. Six of those 10 said you had acted ‘like a sell-out’ and have stopped supporting you altogether,” wrote one austerely determined fan and PhD candidate in a letter published by the Express Tribune.
The acerbic rivalry seems to have caught Federer off guard, who issued an apology for upsetting his Pakistani fan base.
“It was more of a Nike thing to be quite honest,” said the Swiss star on the eve of the Dubai Open. “It was a Nike campaign they had because I met some of the Indian players and I had just spent some time in India so they presented the shirt to me.”
Federer is a living legend within the sport of tennis, and shares Nike’s sponsorship along with the Indian cricket team, which is perennially one of the top ranked teams in the world.
“I support South Africa, and everybody knows that. The idea wasn’t to spark any fire and I’m sorry if it did that,” he said.
Pakistan has one more month to exact revenge on their Indian rivals, if they get another chance in the World Cup that is, and prove to Federer that he threw in with the wrong sub-continental team.