Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea is ranked No. 38 in the latest world rankings and is one of the biggest stars in women’s tennis. But apparently, the marketing team at Adidas was not quite as concerned about her tennis ability as it was about her appearance.
In an interview with the La Fileu podcast, Cirstea revealed that the sportswear and apparel giant regularly told her that her looks were more important than becoming the best overall player in the sport.
“I remember when I signed a contract with Adidas. All the time, and considering they thought I was good-looking for an athlete, they told me: ‘It’s better to be pretty and be in the top 20 than to be ugly and be No. 1’,” Cirstea said in the podcast, according to Eurosport. “If you’re in the top 20, you’re seen everywhere, you’re there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week, every tournament.”
Cirstea was sponsored by Adidas from 2006 to 2016, but is no longer with the brand. Since 2016, she has instead been sponsored by New Balance.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Adidas, this isn’t the only controversy facing the sportswear company in recent weeks. The German apparel company came under fire last week when it took them several days to part ways with rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West after his hateful antisemitic comments.
