On The Roger Pro 2 Clay 'White / Black' (3ME10570462) — Federer Clay Court Tennis Shoe, Engineered for the Slide

What Is the On The Roger Pro 2 Clay ‘White / Black’?

The On The Roger Pro 2 Clay ‘White / Black’ (Style Code: 3ME10570462) is the tennis shoe developed in collaboration with Roger Federer — not as an endorsement partnership but as a co-creation between two Swiss parties who share an investment in the outcome. Federer is not On Running’s ambassador; he is one of its investors and a founding figure in the brand’s direction, which means the Roger Pro 2 Clay is not a running shoe repackaged for the tennis court or a logo licensed to a celebrity. It is a tennis shoe designed by people who needed it to work, developed with the input of the player who spent more time on clay courts than almost anyone alive, and refined to the specific demands of the surface that defines the sport’s most physical and most tactical test. The Clay designation marks this as the surface-specific version — distinct from the all-court Roger Pro 2 in its outsole architecture, upper reinforcement, and midsole tuning, each calibrated for the red clay that the ITF uses at Roland Garros and across the European clay season. White / Black is the colorway that understands what clay court tennis is: white that will carry the red marks of the court as a record of the match it played, and black structural details that remain precise regardless of what the surface does to the upper. At $159, this is today’s most sport-specific shoe — designed for a single surface, a single movement pattern, and the player who demands that both be correct. US M7–M11 / W8.5–W12.5 / EU 40–45.

Quick Facts

• Brand: On Running (Zurich, Switzerland — est. 2010)
• Line: The Roger — On’s tennis line developed with Roger Federer, co-investor and creative collaborator
• Model: Roger Pro 2 Clay — second-generation pro clay court tennis shoe
• Style Code: 3ME10570462
• Colorway: White / Black — white upper + black outsole, overlays, and hardware
• Surface: Clay court — specifically engineered for red clay; not an all-court shoe
• Outsole: Self-cleaning clay court herringbone — modified groove depth for grip-plus-slide
• Upper: Reinforced engineered mesh — extended lateral structure for clay court slide forces
• Midsole: Clay-tuned CloudTec® — sustained cushioning for extended rallies, not explosive return
• Gender: Men’s / Unisex sizing
• Sizing: US M7–M11 / W8.5–W12.5 / EU 40–45
• Price: $159
• Category: Tennis / Clay Court Performance / Roger Federer Collaboration
• Fit: Performance tennis fit — secure and precise; true to size

Specs

Roger Federer and On Running — Co-Creation, Not Endorsement

The Roger line exists because of a specific relationship between Roger Federer and On Running that is different from the typical athlete-brand partnership. Federer became an investor in On Running before the brand went public, with a stake in the company’s outcome rather than a fee for the use of his name. This means the Roger Pro 2 Clay was developed under a different set of incentives than a conventional celebrity-endorsed shoe: Federer’s input into the shoe’s performance is input into a product he owns a share of, not advice he is paid to give. For the Roger tennis line, this has specific implications. Federer is the player who holds the record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles (20), who played on clay at Roland Garros across more than two decades of professional tennis, who has particular and well-documented technical knowledge of what clay court footwear requires — the slide initiation, the recovery, the lateral reinforcement zones, the midsole cushioning demands of five-set clay court matches. The Roger Pro 2 Clay is the product of that knowledge applied to a shoe design, by a co-investor with a reason to get it right rather than an ambassador with a reason to say it is right.

Clay Court Tennis — Why the Surface Requires Its Own Shoe

Tennis is played on three primary surfaces — hard court, clay, and grass — and each makes fundamentally different demands on footwear. Understanding the clay court’s specific requirements explains every technical decision in the Roger Pro 2 Clay.

Hard court is the most common surface globally — acrylic over asphalt or concrete, providing a consistent, high-grip surface where the ball bounces true and the footwork is based on stopping and starting. Hard court shoes require maximum traction (no slide), good lateral stability, and cushioning for the high-impact landings on an unforgiving surface. A hard court shoe on clay would grip too aggressively — the player cannot slide, catches a foot that should move, and risks knee and ankle injury.

Grass is the least common surface at the professional level — natural turf, fast and low-bouncing, requiring specific cleated or pimpled outsoles for grip on a surface that is inherently unpredictable. Grass court shoes are the most specialised and the least transferable to other surfaces.

Clay is the surface of the European tennis season and of Roland Garros — compressed brick dust (red clay) or green clay (Har-Tru, used in North America), characterised by three properties that define the game played on it: the ball bounces higher and slower than on hard court, producing longer rallies and a greater emphasis on physical endurance and tactical patience; the surface is softer and more physically demanding on the legs over the course of a match; and crucially, the surface allows and rewards the controlled slide — a movement pattern that is specific to clay and that requires a specific outsole architecture to execute correctly.

The Controlled Slide — Why the Key Technical Move on Clay Requires Its Own Outsole

The slide is the defining technical movement of clay court tennis and the primary reason a clay-specific shoe is not optional for serious clay court players. On hard court, a player approaching a wide ball must decelerate, plant, reach, and recover — four separate movements. On clay, the same player can slide into the ball: a controlled lateral movement where the foot intentionally loses grip with the surface, allowing the player to travel further than a planted step would permit, reach the ball, and use the slide’s own momentum to begin the recovery movement back to position. Done correctly, the slide covers more court, takes less energy, and positions the player for the next shot more efficiently than the hard court equivalent. Done incorrectly — or in a shoe that does not allow it to initiate predictably — the slide either does not develop (the shoe grips too aggressively and the player stops instead of sliding, often injuring a knee or ankle in the process) or develops uncontrollably (the shoe offers no resistance and the player cannot recover position after the shot).

The Roger Pro 2 Clay’s outsole solves this through a modified herringbone pattern with calibrated groove depth. The herringbone geometry — a V-shaped lug pattern used in clay court outsoles because it provides omnidirectional grip while allowing lateral movement — is present in the Roger Pro 2 Clay with shallower grooves than a hard court outsole would use. Shallower grooves mean less clay-to-rubber interface depth: enough grip to initiate controlled lateral movement and to provide traction during non-slide footwork (split steps, direction changes), but shallow enough that once a slide is initiated with sufficient lateral momentum, the clay’s surface can move under the shoe in the controlled, predictable way that skilled clay court movement requires. The self-cleaning geometry is the second engineering requirement: clay packs into outsole grooves under load, and packed clay eliminates traction entirely (the outsole becomes a smooth clay surface rather than a rubber surface). The Roger Pro 2 Clay’s groove geometry channels clay out of the grooves under load rather than allowing it to compact, maintaining the consistent traction profile that controlled movement demands.

Extended Lateral Reinforcement — Why Clay Slides Stress the Upper Differently

The lateral upper reinforcement in the Roger Pro 2 Clay is more extensive than in the all-court version because clay court slides generate lateral forces on the shoe’s upper that no other tennis movement does. During a hard court lateral movement, the foot plants and the force is transmitted through the outsole grip into the court — the upper experiences the force of the plant, which is primarily vertical with a lateral component. During a clay court slide, the foot is moving laterally at speed while simultaneously bearing the player’s weight — the upper experiences sustained lateral load over the duration of the slide (not just the moment of plant), and the force direction changes as the slide decelerates and the recovery begins. The zones of highest stress are the lateral forefoot (where the slide initiates and where the shoe’s edge contacts the clay most aggressively) and the lateral midfoot (where the sustained load is highest during the slide’s deceleration phase). The Roger Pro 2 Clay’s extended reinforcement at these zones protects both the upper’s structural integrity over the life of the shoe and the foot’s containment during the movement.

White on Red Clay — The Colorway That Accepts the Court

Clay is red — the ochre-red of the compressed brick dust that Roland Garros has used since its clay courts were first constructed, the colour of the European clay season that runs from Monte-Carlo through Barcelona through Madrid through Rome to Paris. White shoes on clay will not remain white: every slide marks the lateral forefoot and midfoot with the red of the court; every hard stop leaves a clay print on the outsole edge; over the course of a match, the white of the Roger Pro 2 Clay’s upper accumulates the session’s history in the ochre-red of the surface it played on. This is not a maintenance problem. It is the record of the match — the evidence of every ball reached, every slide completed, every point played. White on clay is the choice of the player who is not concerned with the shoe’s appearance after the match because the match is the point, and the marks of the court are the proof it happened. Black occupies the outsole, structural overlays, and hardware — the parts of the shoe whose precision must remain legible regardless of surface contact, unchanged by the clay that will mark everything white around them.

Roger Pro 2 Clay vs. Roger Pro 2 (All-Court) — Same Line, Surface-Specific Differences

Decision rule: if you play on clay — Roger Pro 2 Clay. If you play on hard court or multiple surfaces — Roger Pro 2 All-Court. Using a clay shoe on hard court will wear the outsole faster and provide less grip than the all-court version.

Sizing — Men’s / Women’s / EU Conversion Table

The On Roger Pro 2 Clay is sold in men’s / unisex sizing. Women typically size up approximately 1.5 sizes from their women’s US size (e.g., women’s US 7 → men’s US 8.5 / EU 42). Performance tennis fit is secure and precise; true to size for most players.

Who Is the On Roger Pro 2 Clay ‘White / Black’ For?

Three profiles: the clay court tennis player who plays regularly on red clay or Har-Tru and needs a shoe engineered for the surface’s specific movement demands — the Roger Pro 2 Clay’s self-cleaning herringbone outsole for controlled slides, extended lateral reinforcement for slide stress zones, reinforced heel counter for slide recovery, and clay-tuned sustained cushioning for long-rally physical demands represent the complete clay court technical specification at $159; the Federer collector who wants On’s most direct Roger Federer co-creation — a shoe developed with the co-investor who holds documented technical knowledge of clay court demands across more than two decades of professional play, not a licensed name on a generic design but the product of the input Federer has a financial reason to get right; and the White / Black on clay buyer who wants the colorway that accepts the court’s reality — the white that will carry the ochre-red marks of the clay as a record of the match, and the black structural details that remain precise regardless, in the pairing that does not look away from what clay court tennis is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the style code?
A: 3ME10570462.

Q: What is Roger Federer’s actual role with On Running?
A: Federer is a co-investor in On Running — he holds equity in the company rather than a conventional endorsement deal. This means his involvement in the Roger product line is as a stakeholder in the outcome, not as a brand ambassador. The Roger Pro 2 Clay was developed with his input on clay court performance requirements, applied by someone with a financial interest in the shoe working correctly.

Q: Can I use the Roger Pro 2 Clay on hard court?
A: Not recommended. The clay-specific outsole’s shallower grooves provide less traction on hard court than the all-court version’s deeper grip pattern, and the softer clay rubber compound wears faster on the abrasive hard court surface. For hard court or multi-surface play, the Roger Pro 2 All-Court is the correct choice.

Q: What is the controlled slide and why does it require a clay-specific shoe?
A: The slide is clay court tennis’s defining movement — a controlled lateral movement where the foot intentionally loses grip with the surface to cover more court. On a hard court shoe (maximum grip), the foot plants instead of sliding, reducing court coverage and increasing knee and ankle injury risk. The Roger Pro 2 Clay’s shallower herringbone grooves allow the slide to develop predictably once initiated with lateral momentum, while still providing grip during non-slide footwork.

Q: Why will the white upper turn red on clay? Is that normal?
A: Yes — clay is brick dust (ochre-red), and clay court shoes mark with the surface’s colour during play. This is normal and expected on clay, not a defect. White on clay is a deliberate choice: the marks are the record of the match. The black outsole and structural details are specifically chosen to remain visually precise regardless of surface contact.

Q: What is the difference between the Roger Pro 2 Clay and the Roger Pro 2 All-Court?
A: Four surface-specific differences: (1) outsole — shallower self-cleaning herringbone vs deeper all-court grip; (2) lateral reinforcement — extended for clay slide zones vs standard; (3) heel counter — reinforced for slide recovery vs standard; (4) midsole — sustained cushioning for long clay rallies vs explosive return for hard court rhythm.

Q: How does women’s sizing work?
A: Women size up approximately 1.5 sizes from their women’s US size (e.g., women’s US 7 → men’s US 8.5). Same On Running convention as all other On shoes in today’s lineup.