Japan's No. 1 tennis player Kei Nishikori's historic run at the Australian Open won a torrent of publicity for sponsor Fast Retailing Co., attention Sony Corp. and Adidas AG missed by not renewing endorsement deals.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK purchased the rights to air Nishikori's Australian Open match yesterday, boosting the estimated TV audience to 55 million viewers in Japan, after the 22-year-old defeated No. 6 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win a berth in the quarterfinals. Nishikori lost the match to No. 4 seed Andy Murray, after becoming the first Japanese man in 80 years to reach the $12 million tournament's final eight.
(Bloomberg)
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