WATCH: Roger Federer joins cartoon icon Elmo, teases mystery collab with On

Roger Federer recently teamed up with cartoon icon Elmo in a mystery ad collaboration with On. The 20-time Grand Slam winner has maintained his partnership with the Swiss athletic brand despite retiring in 2022 and has appeared in several ads for the company.

Elmo, the beloved red Muppet from Sesame Street, is a playful and curious 3.5-year-old monster known for his high-pitched voice and infectious laughter. Introduced in the 1980s, he was originally voiced by Kevin Clash and later by Ryan Dillon.

On Thursday, the Swiss athletic brand posted a short clip on their Instagram account featuring Roger Federer standing alongside Elmo. The commercial served as a teaser for an upcoming, yet-to-be-announced product or campaign.

They both hilariously asked each other questions:

Elmo - Okay everybody ready? RF - hey ready let's do it. Elmo - Wait elmo is not ready . RF- I'm almost ready. You ready now? RF - I'm ready now. Elmo - what do we do?

On was founded in 2010, and Roger Federer joined the brand in 2019 after his previous partnerships with Nike and Uniqlo.

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“Roger Federer spent 20 days in the lab with us developing the pro tennis shoe” - David Allemann

2024 Shanghai Rolex Masters - Day 12 - Source: Getty

On Running was founded by David Allemann, Caspar Coppetti and Olivier Bernhard.

In a 2021 interview with Forbes, Allemann shared how they began working with Roger Federer to develop the pro tennis shoe. Federer reached out and offered to buy them dinner, expressing his admiration for their shoes. In response, they proposed a collaboration, inviting him to become a co-entrepreneur.

“At some point he called us and said, ‘Let me buy you dinner.’ And so we had dinner together [and] he said: ‘I'm a big fan of your product, everybody around me is wearing them,” Allemann said.

He added that Federer agreed to the collaboration, investing his money and spending 20 days in the lab with them to develop the pro tennis shoe, despite his busy schedule.

“We said ‘Hey, why don’t you become a co-entrepreneur together with us? We want to have huge chunks of your time–if you allow–because I think we can do great things together.’ Fortunately, he said yes. He invested his own money in On. And he spent 20 days in the lab with us developing the pro tennis shoe,” Allemann added.

On Running has seen rapid growth since its founding, surpassing CHF 1.7 billion in 2023 sales, according to Forbes. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek and America's Ben Shelton are some of the major tennis players to sport the brand on the ATP and WTA tours.