Tennis superstar Roger Federer officially apologized last Sunday for holding up an India Cricket jersey last week, before he got the chance to play a tournament in Dubai. In the apology, he directed the blame to sporting goods giant, Nike.

A week ago, a photo of Federer holding up an Indian cricket jersey was showed. This photo went up before the Cricket World Cup. The Pakistan people were offended by Federer picking a side in a sporting event.

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Federer had to make a public apology for holding up the Indian jersey. The apology though took an unexpected turn as he blamed the photo on Nike.

He said that more than anything, it was more of a Nike campaign than a preference for the team. He added that he had met some of the Indian players and spent some time in India with them.

In return, they presented a Nike jersey that represented India to him.

Federer also said that he was really rooting for South Africa, which he says everyone knows. He ended by stating that the idea for the photo was not to "spark any fire" and he was sorry if that was the case.

The photo only received controversy after a Pakistani PhD student at Cambridge wrote an editorial stating how Federer was now dead to him for holding up the Indian blue jersey.

It still remains to be seen if Federer's apology was sincere or whether he just needed to say it to smooth things out to play. However, as Chris Chase from USAToday.com stated, the fact remains that athletes are people too and should be able to express support for teams in sporting events.

In any case, even with Federer withdrawing his support from India, the Pakistan team still lost to India and even lost their second game as well.

TagsRoger Federer, Nike, India jersey, Cricket, Pakistan