Roger Federer walked Bond Street in Air Yeezy 2s, then won Wimbledon

Ten days after the Air Yeezy 2 dropped, the 16-time Grand Slam champion was shopping in London in the Black/Solar Red pair, a week before Wimbledon. He left the tournament with the trophy.

19 Jun 2012 Bond Street, London

Roger Federer walked Bond Street in Air Yeezy 2s, then won Wimbledon. Roger Federer walking Bond Street next to Mirka, striped cardigan, grey joggers, Nike Air Yeezy 2 Black/Solar Red with the glow sole, London, 19 Jun 2012. — Neil Mockford/FilmMagic sequence, via Sole Collector (Zimbio)

A week before Wimbledon in 2012, Roger Federer went shopping on Bond Street with his wife Mirka. Striped cardigan, grey joggers, a bright blue tee. On his feet: the Nike Air Yeezy 2 in Black/Solar Red. It’s 19 Jun 2012, and the photographers stayed with them the length of the street.

It was ten days after the shoe dropped. The Air Yeezy 2 had gone on sale on 9 Jun 2012 in two colourways, Black/Solar Red and Wolf Grey/Pure Platinum, Sneaker News and Nice Kicks reported. Sole Collector had Federer in the red pair up the same day. Its writer, Brandon Richard, doubted he’d had to win a raffle for his. Being the most dominant Nike athlete of the decade, he wrote, “has to come with its perks.”

A tennis sole on a Ye shoe

There’s a reason the pairing works better than it sounds. Sneaker News described the Air Yeezy 2 as “Air Tech Challenge-soled”, the ridged sole taken from Nike’s tennis line. It wondered out loud whether Federer might one day top Andre Agassi’s sneaker legacy. Federer wasn’t hitting in them, of course. He was browsing.

Nineteen days later

Then he went to the All England Club. On 8 Jul 2012 Federer beat Andy Murray 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 in the Wimbledon final, the AFP caption on Getty’s trophy photo records. He’d been a 16-time Grand Slam champion on Bond Street. He left SW19 a 17-time one.

Sole Collector had put the Yeezys down as a perk of being Nike’s biggest name. Nineteen days later he’d picked up a bigger one.