The pre-US Open activities of Rafa and Roger

It’s not known what impact Hurricane Irene will have on the US Open, the year’s fourth and final grand slam tournament scheduled to start on Monday.

All the players are in New York ready to go and, hopefully, will be playing some matches soon.

The winners of a combined 26 grand slam tournaments may be behind Novak Djokovic in the rankings these days, but they are tennis legends who are as much in demand as ever.

Federer, the winner of five consecutive US Opens from 2004-08, paid a morning visit to a Mercedes-Benz sponsor event in Manhattan in New York. He signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans who have grown even more passionate as Roger has slipped in the rankings.

Federer has partnered with Mercedes-Benz back in May, 2010 as part of a multi-year agreement to become the Luxury Mercedes-Benz Brand Ambassador.

Forbes.com recently published an article about Federer’s still lucrative endorsement portfolio:

Federer is the highest-paid tennis player in the world over the past 12-months with earnings of $47 million from prize money, endorsements, exhibitions and appearance fees. He has only one tournament title this year after averaging eight wins annually since 2003, but his income has never been higher.

Federer has long-term deals with Credit Suisse, Jura, Lindt, National Suisse, Net Jets, Rolex and Wilson. This year he renewed his agreement with Mercedes-Benz which previously was for only China. It is now a global deal which doubled the value for Federer.

He also re-upped with Gillette which is considering using Federer as part of its 2012 Olympic sponsorship program in London where Federer is a legend thanks to his six Wimbledon crowns. Federer is the only one of Gillette’s original “Champions” that had their endorsement contract renewed as the shaving giant dropped both Tiger Woods and Thierry Henry.

Federer’s biggest paycheck still comes from Nike. He re-signed with the sporting giant in 2008 for a 10-year deal that is the most lucrative endorsement package in tennis worth more than $10 million annually. In addition to his lucrative endorsement portfolio, Federer can command as much as $1 million per event for exhibitions outside the U.S.

Below is video of Federer being swarmed by fans at the Mercedes event. I’ve watched similar scenes at various tournaments over the years and can tell you that Federer is about as gracious to his fans as any champion could possibly be.

Meanwhile, Nadal appeared at Macy’s Armani Jeans shop Thursday night and some 400 fans chanted, “Rafa, Rafa.”

As for his modeling, the 25-year-old said: “I think it was good. It is the second time I have done the campaign.”

‘Now that I’m working with Armani [it] is a new experience,” he added. “It’s a different world that is very positive for me. I enjoy it a lot.’