‘I Passed Out’- Serena Williams Narrates How ‘King’ Richard’s Shrewd Skill Helped Her Bag Historic $13 Million Puma Deal

“We’re totally getting back into tennis with Serena.” Serena Williams changed the tennis fashion game with her $13,000,000 Puma partnership. Back in 1997, a teenage Serena Williams, accompanied by her father Richard, met with Puma’s head honcho Antonio Bertone and Arnon Milchan, a key investor. This pivotal encounter, as revealed by Bertone to The Undefeated, a near 12-hour marathon meeting paved the way for a historic partnership.

Before her enduring relationship with Nike, Williams’ career as an athlete endorser started with Puma which began February 1998. Recently, when the 42-year-old appeared in a podcast, ‘The Deal,’ she opened up about her side of the Puma deal as a 16-year-old at the time. “Puma’s is an incredibly fascinating deal, my dad negotiated everything and I have to say Puma was probably about the money a little bit for me,” she stated.

“We are in this Hollywood studio, walking in the hallway, and all these famous movies like Pretty Woman, and all these posters are on the wall. And we sit in this conference room, and we negotiate, and it’s like literally midnight,” Serena spoke of her first endorsement deal of her career.

Following that, the former World No. 1 also mentioned how, even after naps and all, her dad was still negotiating with the PUMA officials. “I am 16, my dad’s negotiating, they are going back and forth and he wants me there for the whole time, make sure I know what to do in the future. I passed out, I am not falling asleep, I passed out at some point. I eventually wake up and they are still at it, and I am just so upset,” she concluded.

Further, she also mentioned how even Reebok wanted to sign a deal with the sister duo, but her father, Richard Williams, wanted Serena to sign a different deal than Venus. Williams’ career took a turn for the better after Puma made an initial $13 million deal over five years, which put her on the path to becoming a world-class athlete and fashion designer.

Nonetheless, the 23-time Grand Slam champion discussed her relationship with Puma in her memoirs On the Line.

Serena Williams relationship with Puma: “It cut both ways”

In her autobiography, Serena Williams talked about how her early Puma sponsorship was more than just a financial deal; rather, it was an endorsement as an athlete. She wrote, “I wanted a sponsor. I wanted someone to believe in me. It wasn’t just Puma taking a chance on me. It was me taking a chance on Puma. It cut both ways. It was this moment, going through this giant box of Puma gear that all fit perfectly, where I felt I’d finally arrived as a player.”

The 42-year-old demonstrated her creative participation in her first meetings with the designers by bringing prepared sketches of her tennis suit designs. Amy Denet Deal was one of the designers that helped create apparel for Williams. One of Deal’s most famous creations was the yellow dress Serena wore to her historic US Open triumph in 1999, which changed the course of her career.

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