Pakistan

Pakistan vs India: Federer apologises for '#BleedBlue' comment

17-time Grand Slam title winner clarifies position following a blog published on The Express Tribune

Afp February 23, 2015

The 17-time Grand Slam title winner says he met some of Indian players in India so they presented the shirt to him. PHOTO: @BCCI

DUBAI: Roger Federer has apologised for getting caught up in the bitter rivalry between Indian and Pakistani cricket fans after he was pictured admiring the blue shirt of World Cup champions India in a marketing photo-shoot.

The photograph certainly irritated Federer's legion of fans in Pakistan. A blog piece published in The Express Tribune Blogs went viral after the blogger claimed that he had deleted all his Federer photos and taken a brief opinion poll in which 10 out of 12 Pakistanis apparently felt hurt or betrayed.

Read: Dear Federer, why would you choose to #BleedBlue?

The 17-time Grand Slam title winner shares the same sponsor as the Indian team and on the eve of the two sides' World Cup clash in Adelaide last weekend, Federer posted a picture on his Facebook page of him admiring a blue playing jersey with the caption "Dressing up for a Gentleman's game today. #BleedBlue."

"It was more of a Nike thing to be quite honest," said the Swiss star on the eve of the Dubai Open.

"It was a Nike campaign they had because I met some of the Indian players and I had just spent some time in India so they presented the shirt to me.

"I support South Africa, and everybody knows that. The idea wasn't to spark any fire and I'm sorry if it did that."

Federer has certainly gone public in his support for the Springboks rugby team in the past, and has strong South African connections.

His mother Lynette is from South Africa and the Roger Federer Foundation has raised large sums to help disadvantaged children in the country.

Nevertheless, Federer sought to clarify his attitude to cricket which is currently being showcased at the ongoing World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Indian team, he said, he supported "a little bit."

"Whether or not he followed cricket, it really depends where you are," he added.

"When I'm in America definitely not. When I'm in Europe definitely not. But then when I'm in Australia and here (in the UAE) a little bit sometimes. So it really depends where I am in the world which sport I follow."

Federer and India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar are known to be close with the 'Little Master' a regular visitor to Wimbledon each year to see the Swiss play.

Virat Kohli, who made a century for India in the World Cup win over Pakistan, also met Federer in Sydney in January, describing the tennis player as an "absolute legend" in a captioned picture he posted on his Twitter site.

COMMENTS (14)

prashant | 9 years ago | Reply Hello Indian Friends and Pakistani Friends. I must want to say we all are human. And we want to live friendly. Why we fight always? cause of nation? or religions? all has blood. all eat food. all wear clothes. all can talk. all can walk. all have brain and memory power. all have emotions. each and every thing is same. then why we always fight? animals also behaves well then us. we want to change. look when we fight little children takes experience from us. they always follow elders, so please don't fight. they want to live Friendly forever. think its my request.

A boy | 9 years ago | Reply Hello Indian Friends and Pakistani Friends. I must want to say we all are human. And we want to live friendly. Why we fight always? cause of nation? or religions? all has blood. all eat food. all wear clothes. all can talk. all can walk. all have brain and memory power. all have emotions. each and every thing is same. then why we always fight? animals also behaves well then us. we want to change. look when we fight little children takes experience from us. they always follow elders, so please don't fight. they want to live Friendly forever. think its my request.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Ali | 9 years ago | Reply @Mohsin Sayeed: Indians are filled with negative mentality ever since. .. By the way who is India. ...not only ask Sharapova but ask any one sherd people still found spending nights on walkways. Indians are known for their very cheap mentality. .. Indians are known for their misleading propaganda and their racist faces are very well known

Khan | 9 years ago | Reply It's a pity no one remembers the real legend, the king, the true conqueror, the mighty, the great "Jahangir Khan."

Talal | 9 years ago | Reply @Akbar @Mohsin well everybody knows how many puppets of Indian players are burnt and stones thrown at their houses after a mere defeat by your type of fans. All the world knows that Indian cricket has the most sore fans in the entirety. If you dont believe it then please visit the link and feel proud of bashing YUVI (your savior in one world cup, guy that hit 6 sixes ) and the treatment he gets after he under performs in the other. http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/45540-stones-pelted-at-yuvraj-singhs-home.html This is like sour grapes. On the topic, Federer is not a cricketing fan , he is a golf and an avid football follower ,he loves and supports his hometown club BASEL.Secondly, since your teams shirt manufacturer is NIKE and Federer is NIKEs biggest brand ambassador for like a century now, it was a mere marketing campaign. Coming from a FEDEX fan been watching him since he defeated Sampras in wimbledon in 2001 with a ponytail and a bandana. Both sets of fan , Indians and Pakistani bottled at that, when emotions are involved this is bound to happen, but you have to be objective and realistic about opinions not subjective and biased. Nobody likes to lose and sore losers are at both sides :)

the eddy | 9 years ago | Reply @Irtiza: I feel you did not read this :"Federer and India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar are known to be close with the ‘Little Master’ a regular visitor to Wimbledon each year to see the Swiss play."

Irtiza | 9 years ago | Reply Showing Indian shirt, but I am sure he must not be knowing who Tendulkar is

Usman | 9 years ago | Reply Great, so now how about calling a national holiday for celebration?

Narendra killer represt India | 9 years ago | Reply Another person paid by indians to like them!!

Mohsin Sayeed | 9 years ago | Reply Ufffff...Pakistanis are shamelessly insecure and stupid. It's his choice whichever team he likes or supports. In any case, everyone likes a better team. I find it extremely funny that a tennis player liking another team 'hurts' Pakistanis and makes some to remove his pictures but what goes on in their country doesn't hurt them. Wow!

khan420 | 9 years ago | Reply It is so heartening to know that Federer knows about the existence of a country called Pakistan.....

Mouli | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistan will now win the Worldcup :)

Akbar Khan Mohamadzai | 9 years ago | Reply So the Pakistanis were furious with Federer because he held an India shirt? Great! And did they smash more TV sets and burn their tennis racquets also to boot? Cretins.

JayGooner | 9 years ago | Reply It was quite understood that he posted this as part of Nike promotion. I never imagined i will be reading a whole article on this when i saw that post of Roger on Facebook lol!

Replying to X