Last month Serena Williams cemented her G.O.A.T. status in women’s tennis. Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, breaking her tie with the great Steffi Graf. SW23 now stands alone in second place for most titles ever. She’s won the most in the Open Era and is one behind all time leader Margaret Court. To honor this achievement Nike (Williams’ long-time sponsor) rolled out a 23 themed campaign aligned with another one of the company’s famous athletes who wore number 23.
Sole Collector ran a story today, that detailed Nike’s plan to run the campaign last summer anticipating Williams winning number 23 at the U.S. Open. Unfortunately Williams lost to Karolína Plíšková in the semis. Ever confident that its tennis star would get to 23, the sportswear giant moved ahead with its plans to release the campaign when Williams won the Aussie Open.
That’s the thing with Williams, the question is never if she will achieve some tremendous accomplishment. The question is always when. Glad to see Nike doing a campaign around SW23. Despite her unparalleled on court success, the Swoosh has never made her the centerpiece of many national ads. Part of the reason is women’s tennis isn’t a big enough draw. But Williams is that rare athlete who transcends her sport. What she means to people who don’t even watch tennis is remarkable. Her impact and greatness mirrors another famous athlete that put the Swoosh on the map.
Check out the video below of Williams receiving her custom Air Jordan 1s with a special note from THE G.O.A.T. himself.
ESPN presents Serena Williams with a special box set & letter from Michael Jordan with the NikeCourt Flare AJ1 + a black and pink AJ1 pic.twitter.com/DfonrTInaC
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) January 28, 2017
Flip the pages to see pics of the Serena Williams Flare Air Jordan 1s.