{"id":44333,"date":"2021-09-26T15:45:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/?p=44333"},"modified":"2021-09-27T02:27:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T02:27:33","slug":"the-little-known-story-of-serena-williams-first-endorsement-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/?p=44333","title":{"rendered":"The little-known story of Serena Williams’ first endorsement deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Dodson is a sports and culture writer at The Undefeated. He primarily writes on sneakers\/apparel and hosts the platform\u2019s \u201cSneaker Box\u201d video series. During Michael Jordan\u2019s two seasons playing for the Washington Wizards in the early 2000s, the \u201cFlint\u201d Air Jordan 9s sparked his passion for kicks.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

link<\/a> from Apple News – unstable at the moment, so I copy\/paste<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Antonio Bertone can\u2019t forget that fateful day he met the quiet young girl who changed everything.<\/p>\n

It was the fall of 1997, one evening in Los Angeles, where Bertone, then in his mid-20s, worked as a global director of brand management for the German sportswear company Puma.
\nAt the time, Regency Enterprises held the claim as Puma\u2019s principal shareholder. The mastermind of that unique union of entertainment, footwear and apparel was Regency founder Arnon Milchan, a successful business executive from Israel who became the high-profile film producer behind blockbusters such as Pretty Woman (1990), JFK (1991) and L.A. Confidential (1997). Milchan always thought big picture and had one secretly ambitious plan for Puma, surrounding his off-screen obsession with tennis.
\n\u201cI got a call from Arnon\u2019s assistant,\u201d Bertone remembered. \u201cShe said, \u2018Hey, can you come over to the studio tonight around 5 or 6 o\u2019clock? Arnon wants you to join this meeting.\u2019 I was like, \u2018OK. Any idea of what the meeting is about?\u2019 She said, \u2018I have no idea.\u2019 \u201d
\nAround 5:30 p.m., Bertone arrived at Milchan\u2019s office, then located on the lot of Warner Bros. Studios. The meeting had lasted since midday.
\n\u201cSitting in the office is Serena Williams,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI don\u2019t think she was even 16 yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who turns 40 this week, would go on to endorse Puma into her early 20s, wearing custom-designed outfits that made her into a revolutionary of tennis fashion. But her ongoing 18-year partnership with Nike, the brand she\u2019d join in 2003, has overshadowed the oft-forgotten first endorsement deal of her career. It all began, for Williams, with an offer from Puma, negotiated in this meeting.<\/p>\n

Next to her in the room sat Richard Williams, who moved his family from Saginaw, Michigan, to Compton, California, in 1983. He taught the game of tennis on the city\u2019s public courts to his daughters, Venus and Serena, who are 15 months apart.
\nMilchan had met his ultimate match in Richard Williams. The self-proclaimed \u201cJames Bond\u201d (who once said that he covertly negotiated arms deals for the Israeli government in the 1960s) took serve against \u201cKing Richard,\u201d the hands-on father who leveraged his elder daughter, Venus, an eight-figure endorsement deal with Reebok in 1995. That same year, Williams turned pro at 14, joining her sister on the WTA tour.
\n\u201cArnon recognized Serena and Venus\u2019 ability to change the sport of tennis,\u201d Bertone said. \u201cPuma wasn\u2019t in tennis then. But Arnon went from 0 to 100 \u2026 like, \u2018We\u2019re totally getting back into tennis with Serena.\u2019 \u201d
\nTechnically, Milchan didn\u2019t have the power to discuss financial terms on Puma\u2019s behalf. And Bertone didn\u2019t have the authority to offer a multiyear contract to an athlete. So they called Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz in Germany. Zeitz woke up in the middle of the night to sign off on the deal. Back in the corner of the LA office, Richard Williams periodically called his wife Oracene on the room\u2019s landline to provide updates. \u201cI was convinced he wasn\u2019t even talking to her,\u201d Bertone noted. \u201cThat he was just buying time, drawing things out to see where we\u2019d end up.\u201d
\nAt one point, as detailed in her 2009 autobiography, On The Line, Williams placed her head down on the conference table and dozed off. Negotiations went past midnight, lasting more than 12 hours. The meeting ultimately ended with a multimillion-dollar commitment from Zeitz and Puma, and a verbal agreement from Richard and Serena Williams.
\n\u201c\ufffcIt was really hard to imagine how her career would evolve,\u201d Bertone said. \u201cBut you had to believe, right? It was like, \u2018We\u2019re gonna do this.\u2019 At the same time, I kept on going into these obsessive, compulsive loops in my head \u2026 like, \u2018How the f\u2014 are we gonna figure this out?\u2019 \u201d
\nWilliams, now with 23 Grand Slam singles titles to her legacy, has since been transformed into one of the most admired \u2014 and scrutinized \u2014 athletes of all time in sport and style. But in the late \u201990s, both Puma and a young Williams had much to prove.
\n\u201cI wanted a sponsor. I wanted someone to believe in me,\u201d wrote Williams in On The Line. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just Puma taking a chance on me. It was me taking a chance on Puma. It cut both ways.\u201d
\nA week or so after that initial meeting, a large package addressed to Williams arrived at her family\u2019s home in Florida. She opened it and tried on everything inside, gaining validation extending beyond how each outfit appeared in the mirror. It was about more than just the free clothes or even her first endorsement deal.
\n\u201cIt was this moment,\u201d she wrote in On The Line, \u201cgoing through this giant box of Puma gear that all fit perfectly, where I felt I\u2019d finally arrived as a player.\u201d
\nBy February 1998, approximately five months after negotiations on the Warner Bros. lot, Puma officially announced its partnership with a 16-year-old Serena, then the No. 41-ranked women\u2019s singles player in the world.
\n\u201cI could have signed with any sports brand, but this was the most promising and felt right for me,\u201d Williams said at the time. (Due to scheduling, Williams declined The Undefeated\u2019s request to be interviewed for this story.)
\nThe unprecedented agreement not only included her promotion of the company\u2019s sportswear products, but also said that she would \u201cparticipate in various film, music and media projects produced by Regency,\u201d according to The Hollywood Reporter.
\nSpoiler: Regency never landed Williams on the silver screen (even though the Los Angeles Times reported in March 1999 that she and her sister completed screen tests for an undisclosed film). But Puma certainly delivered in fostering the tennis phenom\u2019s passion for design. Williams made sure she made the most out of the partnership in that regard.
\nRelated Story
\nTracking Serena Williams\u2019 journey through pictures
\nFor her first meeting with Alden Sheets, who became president of worldwide apparel at Puma in 1997, Williams came prepared. She gave him a handwritten note and outfit sketches she drew herself while on tour.
\n\u201cAlden,\u201d wrote Williams, who, at 16, had her own custom-branded letterhead, adorned with her first and last name at the top of each page. \u201cHere are some of the designs that I have thought of. There were many more but this requires many late nights and hard work, especially during a tournament.\u201d On two sheets of paper, Williams outlined her vision for on-court apparel she called the \u201cPetal\u201d and \u201cMod\u201d series. She traced concepts for jackets, dresses, biker shorts and pants that she filled in with colored pencils and added explanatory notes.
\n\u201cAs I said before,\u201d she continued, \u201cPuma is behind in a lot of ways. And I believe I can help bring the company back to its feet and into the lead once again.\u201d
\nRemember, Puma didn\u2019t have a presence in tennis when the company signed her. More than a decade had passed since Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova last repped the brand on the court. \u201cWe exited tennis in the \u201980s, vowing to never get back,\u201d said Bertone, who would become Puma\u2019s chief marketing officer before leaving the company in 2012. Yet Puma returned with Williams. She was an athlete \u2014 from her background to the frame of her body and the way she moved \u2014 unlike any other the brand had experienced.
\n\u201cI saw her and Venus play doubles at Wimbledon. These amazing, powerful women of color in sport,\u201d said Amy Denet Deal, a former senior women\u2019s designer for Puma, who is Native American. \u201cBeing a woman of color, it was groundbreaking to see that shift.\u201d
\nThen overseeing a design office in Herzogenaurach, Germany, where the company is headquartered, Deal received the assignment of being Williams\u2019 first lead designer. Puma also paired Williams with Linda Long, a former tennis player-turned-marketing director who operated as a daily brand manager, traveling with her on tour. Deal and Williams first met at a tournament in Indian Wells, California, and bonded over a shared love for apparel in eye-catching colors. Williams gave Deal drawings depicting what she dreamed of wearing on the court.
\n\u201cI just thought that was the coolest thing ever that this young woman showed up with a bunch of sketches,\u201d said Deal, now the owner and creative director of a design consulting firm and sustainable upcycling brand. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about someone who was 17 and had no training in design. She wanted to be the most powerful player. But this effortless sense of style that she\u2019s developed over all these years \u2014 that was in her heart.\u201d
\nDeal designed the yellow dress Williams wore when she won the US Open in September 1999 after upsetting world No. 1 Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-6, in straight sets. At 17, she became the first African American woman to claim a Grand Slam singles title since Althea Gibson in 1958. She also won the tournament\u2019s women\u2019s doubles title with her sister Venus. Puma celebrated Williams\u2019 first career major singles victory with a $500,000 bonus. And a few weeks later, her tennis coronation gown hit the rack at the first Puma store in the United States, which opened in Santa Monica, California.
\n\u201cHead-to-toe yellow,\u201d Deal said. \u201cQuite different from what would be expected. It was so beautiful. Back when she first started playing and had all the beads in her hair, she was always matching them with her outfit.\u201d
\nHer career-long catalog of on-court outfits considered, Williams\u2019 Puma dress from the 1999 US Open is relatively tame. It took some time for her to get comfortable with the brand as she grew into a young woman.
\nShe turned 18. She transitioned from beaded braids to new hairstyles. She announced a joint plan with her sister Venus for offseason enrollment at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where they would major in fashion. And, most importantly, she started winning. By the end of 1999, she ranked No. 4 in the world in women\u2019s singles.
\n\u201cOur eye was always on majors,\u201d Sheets said. \u201cEvery major, there would be a new series of apparel and a statement outfit. We started conservatively. Then we started to get wild.\u201d
\nA young designer named Bonnie Dominguez, who specialized in lifestyle clothing, took over as the visionary behind Williams\u2019 apparel after Deal left the company in November 1999. Closer to Williams in age, Dominguez and the tennis star clicked immediately. Williams nicknamed the 5-foot-2 Dominguez \u201cLittle Bonnie.\u201d
\n\u201cSerena was always the muse,\u201d said Dominguez, who designed for Puma from 1998 to 2005. She\u2019s been with New Balance since 2013. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that could\u2019ve happened with any other player \u2014 to take that many fashion risks that early in a career. I don\u2019t think the world was ready for it. I don\u2019t think design was ready for it.\u201d
\nIn 2000, classes at the Art Institute started for Williams, who was deemed the \u201csingle-most recognizable athlete Puma endorses worldwide\u201d in The Palm Beach Post by the brand\u2019s head of U.S. marketing. She also began addressing her outfits in news conferences, while opening up more about her lifelong love of fashion. Williams quipped, however, that design didn\u2019t come to her as naturally as tennis.
\n\u201cI like drawing ideas of things to wear and just, like, sketching out things,\u201d she said in 2000. \u201cI\u2019m not the greatest artist, but I\u2019ve got ideas.\u201d
\nAhead of the 2000 US Open, Sheets discovered a new type of fabric and a factory in LA that could manipulate it through a unique tie-dyeing process. He challenged Dominguez to use his findings in her debut ensemble for Williams to wear at that season\u2019s final major.
\n\u201cOne of the first outfits that got the most attention was Williams\u2019 purple and black tie-dye coverup,\u201d Sheets said. \u201cShe had a pair of compression shorts underneath a bare midriff and bra top. So, at various angles, you were seeing through that garment, because it was mesh. That outfit had the WTA calling me to question what we were doing to tennis, which was a very white, conservative sport.\u201d
\nThe policing of Williams\u2019 style started early in her career. Notably at Wimbledon, tennis\u2019 most revered Grand Slam, where there\u2019s a No. 1 rule: Competitors must be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white.During Williams\u2019 five-year partnership with Puma, certain tournaments began mandating that the brand show Williams\u2019 outfits in advance. Sheets fielded frequent calls from tennis officials, including one that still stands out from the All England Club, where Williams won Wimbledon singles titles in 2002 and 2003.
\n\u201cI remember I was on a shopping tour, walking the streets of Florence and my cellphone rings,\u201d recalled Sheets. \u201cIt was the head of the Wimbledon approval committee saying, \u2018Mr. Sheets, we\u2019re very concerned Serena\u2019s outfits will be outside of the ethics of our organization. We\u2019d very much like to see what you\u2019re planning to have her wear. In fact, send the garments to us for our pre-approval before she\u2019s allowed to be on court.\u2019
\n\u201cI was stunned,\u201d Sheets continued. \u201cThe people at Wimbledon were worried we were gonna put Serena out there in a red outfit or something. We wanted to. But we knew we couldn\u2019t get it done. Not there.\u201d
\nPuma truly flipped the script of traditional tennis attire at the French Open in 2002. The tournament was held during the first two weeks of the FIFA World Cup in South Korea. The marketing team at the brand, which also sponsored Cameroon\u2019s national men\u2019s soccer team, came up with the crazy concept of outfitting Williams in a dress resembling the kit the African nation would wear at the World Cup. Dominguez sketched a sample and pitched it to Williams, who loved the idea. In her opening match at the French Open, she took the court in Cameroon-themed apparel, down to a pair of yellow soccer socks pulled up to her knees.
\nAfter Williams won the French Open and at Wimbledon in 2002, Puma needed another head-turning design for the 21-year-old star, who had reached the world No. 1 in women\u2019s singles. She was preparing to compete for her third straight Grand Slam title at the US Open.
\n\u201cWith her pushing so many style boundaries, it was like, \u2018What do we do next?\u2019 \u201d Dominguez remembers thinking. \u201cDoes it have to be a skirt? Does it have to be a dress?\u201d
\nA better question, she asked herself: \u201cHow do we make a statement?\u201d
\nSketches and design materials were sprawled across her hotel room in Germany as Dominguez prepared for a sales meeting to introduce what she had in store for Williams.
\nFrom the television in the background, Dominguez heard speculation that actress Halle Berry was being cast as the lead in the film Catwoman. She turned around and watched the program roll vintage footage of the actress Eartha Kitt, who in 1967 became the first African American woman to star as the comic book character in the TV series Batman.
\nIt was in this moment that Dominguez found inspiration for Williams\u2019 infamous catsuit that she\u2019d debut months later at the 2002 US Open.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone else would\u2019ve looked good in that catsuit,\u201d said Dominguez, who immediately got to drawing after \u201cbadass Eartha Kitt\u201d reminded her of Williams. For the outfit, she planned to use Lycra, a high-shine spandex brand that looked like faux leather and would tightly hug Williams\u2019 muscular physique. Dominguez complemented the look with a biker-style jacket that she could wear over the catsuit while warming up.
\n\u201c \u2018Let\u2019s try it,\u2019 \u201d recalled Dominguez of the customary approval Williams gave to move a design concept into production. By the time Sheets delivered a sample at a memorable 7 a.m. fitting session in her hotel room at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, Williams had forgotten about the rebellious outfit.
\n\u201c\ufffcWe hand her the catsuit and she says, \u2018This is for me \u2026 to wear playing tennis?\u2019 \u201d Sheets recalled. \u201cShe went into the bathroom and came out where there was a full mirror in front of the door. She was just glowing, with this huge grin on her face.\u201d
\nAt the sight of Williams in the catsuit for the first time, Sheets\u2019 split conscience spoke up.
\n\u201cI remember very specifically having two guys on my shoulders. One on my left and one on my right,\u201d Sheets said. \u201cThe one on my left said, \u2018You are absolutely crazy if you\u2019re gonna have her walk out at the US Open, upset the USTA, the WTA and have Puma scrutinized. \u2026 You can\u2019t allow this.\u2019
\n\u201cThe one on my right said,\u2018This is the most incredible thing we\u2019ve ever done. We\u2019re gonna upset all of tennis. We\u2019re gonna upset the entire world. The press is gonna be all over this. And Serena loves it. We\u2019re not turning back at this point.\u2019 \u201d
\nDue to delays at a factory in China, the catsuit almost didn\u2019t make it in time for the US Open. At the 11th hour, a Puma representative flew the garment from Hong Kong to New York, where Sheets picked it up at the airport. He handed it off to Long, Williams\u2019 brand manager, who gave it to her and advised she try it on before her opening match at the US Open.
\n\u201cI had to beg Jim Curley, who was the tournament director then, to allow Serena to wear it. He thought I\u2019d lost my mind but gave the OK,\u201d Long said. \u201cI\u2019m standing in the hallway waiting for Serena to come out to go on to Arthur Ashe Stadium court in the catsuit. She bends over and whispers in my ear, \u2018This is the first time I\u2019ve put this catsuit on \u2026 hope I don\u2019t lose.\u2019 \u201d
\nOn Aug. 26, 2002, Williams stepped onto the tennis court and unzipped her jacket to unveil her skintight catsuit. Later that evening, this is how CNN anchor Anderson Cooper opened the program:
\nDespite widespread criticism, Williams went on to win the 2002 US Open, defeating her sister Venus while wearing the outfit that she accented in the final match with a pink headband and armband.
\n\u201cMan, that outfit turned a lot of heads \u2026,\u201d wrote Williams years later in On The Line. \u201cBut what most people don\u2019t realize is it was so comfortable! Of course the catsuit was so hot I would have worn it even if it was the most uncomfortable thing in the world.\u201d
\nIt doesn\u2019t feel like common knowledge that Puma designed the first catsuit Williams wore in her career. Type \u201cSerena catsuit\u201d in Google, and the first images and news stories that surface are those surrounding the Nike one she wore at the French Open in 2018 that the French Tennis Federation barred from returning, saying \u201cone must respect the game.\u201d Nike responded to the ban and comments by releasing an ad with the powerful tagline: \u201cYou can take a superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers.\u201d
\n\u201cSerena\u2019s legacy with Puma feels like it all got erased when she went to Nike,\u201d Bertone said.
\nRelated Story
\nBlack women are taking over the footwear industry
\nIn December 2003, after winning her first six Grand Slam singles titles while repping Puma, Williams left the company to join Nike on an eight-year endorsement deal reported to be worth up to $55 million with performance incentives. By comparison, Williams earned a reported $13 million from Puma in the first five years of her career. (Dominguez recalled that Williams never had the opportunity to wear the final outfit she designed for her. So Puma outfitted actress Kirsten Dunst in it for the 2004 film Wimbledon.)
\n\u201cAt the time, we went as high as we could go for an athlete, knowing full well that Nike would outbid us,\u201d Bertone said. \u201cPeople nowadays have no idea about Serena and Puma.\u201d
\nThere\u2019s a memory in particular that Bertone cherishes from Williams\u2019 early days with Puma. In the late \u201990s, they crossed paths at the Atlanta Super Show, a sporting goods trade convention.
\n\u201cI remember seeing her and shaking her hand, like, \u2018Holy s\u2014. You\u2019re a superstar now,\u2019 \u201d Bertone recalled. \u201cShe had become a young woman and was much taller than the first time I saw her. She was wearing all her Puma apparel and it was just so nice to be like, \u2018This is working!\u2019 \u201d
\nShe\u2019s since gone from a promising 16-year-old athlete a brand took a chance on to reaching the pinnacle of both tennis and style-bending.
\n\u201cI consider her a fashion icon,\u201d said Deal, the first designer of color Williams worked with at Puma. \u201cShe\u2019s completely changed the way that women dress for sport.\u201d
\nIn 2019, Williams and Nike teamed up to create an apprenticeship program to promote diversity in design and provide a foundation for a new generation of designers from underrepresented backgrounds. In August, Nike announced the Serena Williams Design Crew\u2019s first collection, set for a fall release, featuring apparel, footwear and accessories and crafted by 10 designers from diverse backgrounds.
\nNow, it seems, Williams is the one on the receiving end of a young aspiring designer\u2019s sketches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aaron Dodson is a sports and culture writer at The Undefeated. He primarily writes on sneakers\/apparel and hosts the platform\u2019s \u201cSneaker Box\u201d video series. During Michael Jordan\u2019s two seasons playing for the Washington Wizards in the early 2000s, the \u201cFlint\u201d Air Jordan 9s sparked his passion for kicks.\u00a0 link from Apple News – unstable at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tennis-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.ireneeng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}