Sportswear company Sergio Tacchini has declined to comment directly on a $40-million lawsuit filed in Manhattan on Monday against them by the world’s top-ranked female tennis player, Martina Hingis, in which she claims shoes they provided her with were “defective”. In response, they have cited an earlier legal battle with the champ.
Hingis claims the shoes she wore as part of a five-year $5.6 million endorsement deal were “unsuitable for competition” and ultimately forced her to withdraw from several tournaments. A Milan court cited several flagrant breaches of contract on her part and the 20-year-old player was fired as a spokeswoman.
“The company can do no more than note that with Sergio Tacchini sneakers, Martina Hingis became the undisputed leader of women’s tennis worldwide, winning her last Grand Slam dressed in Sergio Tacchini,” said a spokesman for the firm.
“Martina Hingis defended herself complaining that she suffered foot sores caused by sneakers made by her sponsor,” the Italian clothiers said in a statement, referring to a 1999 court case brought in Milan against the “Swiss Miss”. “The baseless claims of Hingis, formulated only to avoid paying the contractual damages, was highlighted and restated by that judiciary… This saga has been dragging on through the courts for two years. We do not recognise any judicial authority in this matter other than the court in Milan,” a Tacchini spokesman added.
An Italian doctor examined the tennis star’s feet in October 1998 and as a result, suggested ways in which the company might modify the shoes – the company failed to do so.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
