Bianca Andreescu gives Nike a dressing down at US Open before issuing apology
By DANIEL NAKSABADO and ANDREW WASHAM / Associated Press
May 22, 2013|Fairfield, Conn. | From The Sun Journal
NEW YORK — The American tennis star and the apparel company exchanged bitter recriminations Tuesday, with the former declaring that the USTA is “completely inept” and a “puppet for Nike” and the latter charging that Andreescu’s remarks were designed to stoke controversy.
Nike announced it would fire Andreescu and would not be renewing her sponsorship for the 2014 Olympic Games in Brazil.
In an open letter published by ESPN, Andreescu claimed that former Nike chief executive Officer Phil Knight had given her a “dismissive and unprofessional” performance in a meeting with the company last month, adding that she had been let go because of “personal reasons,” including her desire to return to the U.S. to serve tennis’s governing body, the U.S. Tennis Association.
Andreescu said that while she has no regrets, the move was “the right thing to do for my family and my career.”
The USTA responded with an apology of sorts, vowing to do everything it can to ensure that Andreescu’s name is removed from the tennis world’s consciousness, just as it did with John McEnroe, John McEnroe’s father, and his son John McEnroe Jr.
The USTA said it had reached out to Andreescu to offer her a job to come back home, and that she had accepted. The USTA noted that Andreescu had been in a relationship with the USTA and promised to help her find a job with another organization that would have a better relationship with the association.
“We want to make sure that her name is not associated with the U.S. Tennis Association,” USTA chief operating officer Jim Scherr said. “We’re all concerned and we’re trying to move forward in a dignified manner.”
Nike is one of the USTA
