Roger Federer & Tony Godsick: The Laver Cup 9/23/25

0:04I remember I told myself probably around 24, 25 when I had won a couple of majors, I was world number one, that I would like to stay in the game for a long, long time and not just retire at 30, 32 years old like the majority of the players were retiring at. Tennis legend Roger Federer. Retired, but not done yet. I've been playing a lot, so I'm trying to keep in good shape. And I know that Rafa is also totally open to maybe play some tennis. He started the Lever Cup with his agent Tony Godzik in 2017. We've got other sponsors that are new. And what's nice is they come into the Lever Cup and actually a lot of them are staying in the sport of tennis.

0:42How brand deals, social media, and even AI from sponsors like Perplexity are changing the game. Wouldn't it be great if one of the coaches could sort of quickly go onto a tablet and ask, okay, you know, Carlos Alcaraz has to serve here to one of the world players, and it's match point, and he's serving a second serve, and he's got to serve it in the ad court, should he serve up the tee or out wide? Plus, style on and off the court. I obviously also tried to push the envelope when it came to on-court style. And I think we'll see more of it, you know, because I think the players are having fun with it.

1:16The fans like it as well. I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. This episode of Squawk Pod Reports with Roger Federer and Tony Godzik begins right now.

1:41Roger Federer almost needs no introduction, but I'll give you one anyway. In a tennis career spanning nearly 25 years, the legend won 20 Grand Slams. That's a record only beaten by two other greats of his era, Novak Djokovic, who's won 24, and Rafael Nadal, who's won 22. Of the three, Djokovic is the only player still competing professionally. In 2017, Federer started the Laver Cup with his agent Tony Godzik. It's part ATP tournament, part celebration of the greats in men's tennis. Two teams, one European, one global, compete in a three-day event, and the captains of each team are retired legends.

2:25This year, captains are both Tennis Hall of Famers, Andre Agassi, who led Team World, and Yannick Noah, who led Team Europe. Over the weekend, Agassi's Team World won. The sport's fifth-ranked male player, American Taylor Fritz, beat both No. 3 and No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Now, less than a month earlier, Alcaraz secured his No. 1 ranking with a U.S. Open victory in New York.

2:57Between the U.S. Open and the Laver Cup, CNBC Squawk Box anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin sat down with both Roger Federer and his agent Tony Godzik to talk all things tennis. You know, we just had the U.S. Open, and it feels like we have a new era upon us. I don't know if you agree with this, but when you think about, you know, the big three, you know, not being there, and then, or not winning, I should say, and then Alcaraz and Sinner, it just feels like we're at this inflection point. Do you see that? Absolutely. I mean, I think the French Open, for me was a little bit that match, you know, that really, that the game needed to really sort of move on as well from the post-Roger, Rafa, Serena time as well to truly embrace this rivalry and this incredible shot making that Carlos and Yannick have right now.

3:50And Novak's right there as well. I think he played four semis this year in all four majors, which is incredible. And obviously we're very happy that Carlos is also playing at the Labour Cup in San Francisco, you know, in a few days here on this stadium. behind me and I think it's like you said it's definitely a new era and I love the guys they have great characters they get along well but they have a building a very strong rivalry the same as we we did for a long time as well and the game always needs these kind of players so when you think back to when you were 22 and 23 years old the ages of Sinner and Alcaraz do you see your do you think that this new era can go as long as you did I mean that was one of the most remarkable things about your own career?

4:30Yeah, I really think they can actually, because, you know, I think we showed them the way as well, like Andre Agassi actually showed me the way a little bit, you know, or Jimmy Connors, that actually you can stay in the game for a long time. You just have to have that vision at quite a young age already. And I remember I told myself probably around 24, 25, when I had won a couple of majors, I was world number one, that I would like to stay in the game for a long, long time and not just retire at 30, 32 years old like the majority of the players were retiring at. And I think that Carlos and Yannick, they probably think the same thing, that we have time on our side.

5:05We already have success now, so there's no rush with everything here. So, I mean, personally, I would love it if they played 35 years old and beyond. So I think with that in mind, I think we can expect them to be around for a long time. Tony, speak about this tournament and the evolution of it as well because I do think we're in a new era when it started. Most of the sponsors, for example, were Roger's sponsors over the years. But now it's expanded to something far beyond that. Yeah, absolutely. Look, when we started the Labor Cup, we needed Roger on our side and his sponsors to get us off the ground.

5:41We were a historical event with no history. So we needed some of these incredible brands like Rolex and Mercedes to get us started. Now, you know, we have 22 sponsors. We started with six in year one, and now we have 22 sponsors, and over half of them have no affiliation with Roger, which is not to say that that is good or bad, but just to say that we've got other sponsors that are new. And what's nice is they come into the Labor Cup, and actually a lot of them are staying in the sport of tennis. So, you know, we've sold out every year. We're doing close to$25 million of ticket sales this year, 22 sponsors.

6:15So the fans and the consumers have really sort of latched on to this event, and it's been very exciting. I'll tell you one sponsor that I imagine our audience is going to take note of, and that is Perplexity, providing what is being described as AI insights. What is that? So, look, AI is those two letters are something we hear on your show every single day, obviously. Perplexity is going to come in and help add, you know, we're in San Francisco, which is the technology hub of the world. Innovation is happening here daily. And so Perplexity is going to come in and help power the event. They're going to provide insight to not only the players and the coaches, but to the fans, predicting different things and giving people ideas of what might happen next.

6:55I mean, one of the things, and we talked to them, that they said was, wouldn't it be great if one of the coaches could sort of quickly go onto a tablet and ask, OK, you know, Carlos Alcaraz has to serve here to one of the world players and it's match point. And he's serving a second serve and he's got to serve it in the ad court. Should he serve up the tee or out wide? what would be the best piece of advice. So they can get this information to the player very quickly and maybe with some of the predictive stuff. Data's in tennis a tremendous amount now. So hopefully some of that stuff will be used as well and just getting people to learn more about our brand.

7:28Talking about brands, I'm so curious how you think about just the evolution of all these new brands that seem to have come on. We saw it in the U.S. Open. I'm thinking about Lululemon and Viore. I mean, Nike, which was always sort of the central brand, you know, is being challenged by a lot of upstarts, It's obviously on a huge part of that. And how you think about the evolution of that and what you think that's going to look like longer term. Meaning, do you think it becomes very fragmented, meaning there's lots and lots of brands around tennis? Do you think that there's almost a consolidation around some winners and some losers?

8:00Look, I think there'll be some winners and some losers. I definitely think, you know, tennis is a platform for fashion. It always has been from the beginning. And so you've got some of these new brands that are coming along and executing very well. on obviously is doing a tremendous job. They've picked some amazing players to start their their tennis brand with. But you've got, you know, Polo Ralph Lauren at Wimbledon. You've got, you know, huge brand Lululemon has just signed a bunch of players. You have Viori has come in and signed someone recently. So, you know, fashion and tennis seem to go hand in hand.

8:33Anna Wintour is always a fixture at the U.S. Open. So are some other fashion, you know, brands out there watching and supporting the players. So I think there will be some players that sort of maybe will fall off, but certainly these new ones that are doing really well, like On, I think are here to stay and are doing great. But Nike obviously is still the big player in the sport with Adidas and others, but the future is bright certainly for fashion in tennis. Hey, Roger, talking about fashion, I'm curious how you think about this as a player, as someone who's on the court. And I was thinking about this, I was at the U.S.

9:08Open a couple of times this year, and it has become as much about what's going on in the court as it is off the court. I mean, there's almost a people-watching element to it. There's not just the sponsors, but they're bringing influencers into the stands. People are looking at them, trying to take pictures, and it creates an excitement at one level, but at the other end of it, I wonder whether you think it takes away it all from the game. I see what you're saying. I get it. but I do think it's important because everybody consumes the game in a different way and if it's maybe just only about 400 backends and saving breakpoints and all that stuff for some people maybe that's not enough so they want to see the people they want to do the people watching they want to talk about maybe the fashion element as well I think also you see it with the on-court interviews after we used to not have them at all then we added a little bit of it and now it's more of a chat with the players getting to know the characters behind the player, actually.

10:07And I think it's a good thing overall. I mean, I obviously also tried to push the envelope when it came to on-court style. And I think we'll see more of it, because I think the players are having fun with it. The fans like it as well. And then when people show up to tennis, tennis has a very strong heritage. And we've always had good looks as tennis brands. So I think we need to celebrate that. And that's where often also we forget sometimes how strong we can be also for the street wear, you know, in shoes and in clothes as well. So I think it's fine, but I see the element of it being too distractive.

10:43But I mean, you go to the big matches, usually it is about the game. And I love that because I've also been to Super Bowls and look, I love the NFL and all that. But that's a whole bigger show, you know, than let's say when you come to tennis. One of the things I think is really important is we're trying to capture the younger consumer. and those consumers are on their iPhones and they're checking out Instagram and YouTube and watching shorter sort of vignettes of things. So, you know, the optics and sort of the content that's created behind the scenes is a lot what this next generation of kids are looking to consume.

11:13And it's really important for us, not just at the U.S. Open, but at the Labor Cup, to make sure we serve them as well. Roger, this partnership that you have now with ON has obviously been such a wild success. And I'm curious if you can go back in time and just help us understand when you officially did leave Nike and you think about, you know, the Uniqlo deal and then ultimately this on deal, which, you know, by all accounts, you know, has been worth more than maybe all of the winnings on the court for you. How hard was it to make that leap? Do you remember thinking, I don't know if this is going to work and did you ever think it was going to work this well?

11:54No, I never thought it was going to work this well and I never... All I thought was it'd be cool to work with a Swiss brand, help the guys out because actually we started working on a shoe before I even had a deal with on because I thought it'd be nice to help a Swiss brand out in a market I thought that was incredibly difficult to succeed. So now you could think I was a little naive of what I did or had a good sense, I'm not sure. But I did hope that they were going to be successful, but never at the speed like that. I didn't know that a brand could grow this quickly, to be quite honest, in this space.

12:31So it's been incredibly fun. I think then also with COVID, my injuries, it allowed me to really deep dive into the brand and into designing the shoes and coming up with the first tennis shoe and also the first lifestyle sneakers and telling that story. And then, I mean, you take it from there and the rest is history. But it's been so much fun working with such a global brand that is half an hour away from home. I can go there for coffee, meet the owners and the founders, and they're amazing people. So it's been a wonderful journey and obviously still so much more ahead. I mean, the numbers are incredible and we hope we can keep going and obviously also potentially enter new sports, obviously, if we want growth.

13:12Well, let's speak to that. Where does it go from here? I know you've got some special edition sneaks that you're wearing right now, but when you think longer term about sort of where On can go, what other sports it can get into? I mean, tennis is the one I think that On is happy to stay in and double down, I guess, a little bit, you know, which is for me personally very exciting. I mean, right now the World Championships are happening in Tokyo, in athletics, so I know that that's always going to be sort of the number one for ON because we care dearly for innovation and they come from running, you know, from Olivier Bernard, the founder, so that's going to be obviously always important.

13:53But of course the question will be the big sports, I don't know, football, golf, basketball, I would love them to see ON go into that space, but that is not my decision. I'll be asked maybe down the road, But that is still not I'm not the one deciding. Finally, got to ask you, Roger, I don't know. I don't know what you're thinking. Would you ever start a senior tour with Rafa? Yeah. Why not? I mean, I love Rafa. And I am I played four hours of tennis the other day in L.A. and or here in San Francisco, sorry. And then in L.A. also another hour and a half. and before that I've been playing a lot so I'm trying to keep in good shape and I know that Rafa is also totally open to maybe play some tennis it sounds terrible, seniors tennis to us but maybe we can create a tour like a Fadal tour or something like that I mean it would be cool and I think that's also one of the things actually one of the reasons I did start the Lever Cup is to shine a light on the past grades of the game and maybe a seniors tour we've had it a little bit obviously in tennis I think it was called the Champions Tour at the time it did exist but I think there is a lot of appetite for seeing past champions in tennis as well so I could maybe look into that as well as Rafa for sure.

15:15Okay well we'll keep our eyes on all of it. We love watching you and we love watching the Lever Cup. We want to congratulate you and we look forward to seeing everything goes on in the coming days. Thanks guys.

15:35Thank you for listening to this special Squawk Pod reports from CNBC Sport and Boardroom's Game Plan in Los Angeles. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. And Squawk Pod is produced by me, Cameron Costa, and Katie Kramer. John Lazration is our editor. If you don't already subscribe to Squawk Pod, please hit that follow button right now so you never miss any of our other interviews. Have a great day.

16:05Thank you.