When we received a couple of invitations from watch brands to various tennis tournaments this year, deciding who should go wasn’t a hard decision for our team. After all, it’s no exaggeration to say that I’m a bit of a tennis nut. Tennis crazy and watch crazy, to be more precise. Although it would never have occurred to me personally to wear a watch during a match – in this article, we’ll learn how many professional players actually do – the connection between the two disciplines, watchmaking and tennis, makes perfect sense. After all, it’s all about precision and timing, right? Of course, that’s somewhat a romanticisation, because there’s almost always a link to watches, but there are also more pragmatic arguments. Tennis has always been an elitist sport – in the beginning, men would be donned in elegant long white trousers with polo shirts, while the women wore elegant dresses and hats. Even today, only white outfits are allowed at Wimbledon. Tennis clubs also often remain elite sports centres, with not inconsiderable annual fees and waiting lists for admission. Thus, it’s no surprise that the archetypal tennis-playing clientele tends to be interested in the beautiful and expensive things in life, such as luxury watches.
Roger Federer 2019 in Wimbledon
Credit © Rolex / Jon Buckle
The symbiosis between tennis and watches
I would argue that there is no sport today that is as closely linked to a product world as tennis is to watches. Rolex first became the official timekeeper at Wimbledon back in 1978. It was an era in which tennis players were suddenly seen with watches on their wrists – on and off the court. Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Andre Agassi are legendary for the Ebel watches they wore during matches. Today, Agassi is a Longines brand ambassador; Edberg for Rolex. Arthur Ash was seen at Wimbledon in 1973 wearing a Rolex Day-Date, Björn Borg wore a Cartier Tank and Michael Chang wore Stelux, which no longer exists. Steffi Graf played with a Baume & Mercier Avant-Garde on her wrist, which looked a bit like a Piaget Polo. The 70s and 80s were also characterised by a style in the tennis world that was perfectly complemented by a fashion accessory such as a watch.
Boris Becker wearing Ebel
Credit © dpa
Today, it’s not just about good style and beautiful advertising campaigns, but also about a strong personal interest in mechanical watches and a hobby alongside their sporting careers, in which some players are now getting involved in and investing in watch brands. More about that later.
Top dog Rolex
Today, almost all ATP (and some WTA) tournaments are sponsored by watch brands as main partners. The top dog by far is Rolex, which first became the official timekeeper at Wimbledon in 1978 and is now the main sponsor of all ATP Masters: the Australian Open (since 2008), French Open (since 2019), Wimbledon (since 1978) and the US Open (2018). Rolex is also the official timekeeper for the ATP and WTA championship tournaments at the end of the season – the Nitto ATP Finals and WTA Finals. Since 2007, Rolex has also sponsored the Davis Cup, in which the teams of the best players from around 125 countries compete against each other in the largest team competition in the world. Rolex is also a co-founder of the Laver Cup, which was launched in 2017. It pits a team of top European players against competitors from the rest of the world. The two teams have so far been coached by eternal rivals Björn Borg and John McEnroe. At this year’s Laver Cup in Berlin, they have handed over their duties to Andre Agassi and Yannick Noah. The tournament is named after tennis legend Rod Laver and was created by tennis maestro Roger Federer together with Rolex. Borg, McEnroe, Laver and Federer are or were all Rolex Testimonials – as are now a dozen other top players in the ATP and WTA world rankings, such as the current men’s Number 1 Jannik Sinner, Number 3 Carlos Alcaraz, and Number 5 Taylor Fritz. In the women’s category, the current Number 2 is Iga Światek, but Number 3, Coco Gauff, is also a Rolex Ambassador.
Björn Borg, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Światek und Coco Gauff
Credit © Rolex / Jon Buckle / David Gray / Alexandre de Brabant
However, it is undoubtedly Roger Federer who is most often associated with Rolex today. He has been a brand ambassador for the watch company since 2001 – and even if he didn’t wear watches on the court (like no other Rolex testimonial), he has plenty of victories to show for it, as he raised the trophies in the air and the Rolex watches on his wrist could be seen across screens around the world.
Roger Federer wore the Oyster Perpetual Datejust in Oystersteel and yellow gold on his wrist when he held up the trophy after his victory over Marin Čilić at Wimbledon in 2017. The model was unveiled a year earlier at the Baselworld watch fair. Federer once revealed in an interview that the Datejust is his favourite Rolex line. The reference 126303 has a slate-grey dial and green Roman numerals, which is why the previous models were nicknamed ‘Wimbledon’.
Roger Federer 2017 in Wimbledon
Credit © Rolex / Jon Buckle
At the 2008 US Open victory against Andy Murray, Federer wore an exceptional Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 116509 in white gold with a silver-coloured dial and Arabic numerals instead of hour markers. You can find an overview of other watches that Federer wore in our detailed article to mark the end of his career in 2022.
Roger Federer 2008 at the US Open
Credit © Rolex
Rado and Cameron Norrie
In addition to the Masters tournaments, which Rolex has conquered for itself in recent years, there are also many other ATP tournaments that are sponsored by watch brands. Rado has been sponsoring the BMW Open in Munich, the Swiss Indoors in Basel, and the Mexican Open in Acapulco for a number of years, and supports young tennis talents with its YoungStars programme. Cameron Norrie is certainly a role model for many of them and has been a Rado brand ambassador since 2021. Although he doesn’t wear a watch during the match, he mainly promotes the brand’s Captain Cook line. His compatriot Andy Murray already became a Rado brand ambassador in 2012.
Cameron Norrie for Rado
Former Australian tennis player and former world number one in the ATP world rankings Ash Barty has also been part of the Rado family since 2017. Barty ended her career in 2022, shortly after winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, but she remains a brand ambassador for the watchmaker, which was involved in the founding ceremony of the Ash Barty Foundation in Australia at the beginning of the year.
The ultimate tennis showdown with Zenith
Zenith, on the other hand, has chosen a completely different format and has been a sponsor of the UTS (Ultimate Tennis Showdown) since 2020 – a tournament format that was founded in the same year by coaching legend Patrick Mouratoglou, who came to prominence primarily through his successes with Serena Williams. What many people don’t realise, however, is that Mouratoglou helped players such as Marcos Baghdatis, Andy Roddick and Coco Gauff make the leap to the top of the world’s best players. Over 40 players that Mouratoglou coached have made it into the world’s top 100.
Patrick Mouratoglou
With his UTS format, he deliberately breaks with almost all the conventions of classic tennis in order to make tennis accessible to a younger audience. There is only one serve and the game is timed. Things are also different off the court. We attended the UTS tournament in Frankfurt with Zenith and were able to experience the atmosphere live, which doesn’t come across at all on the screens at home. In the Süwag Energie Arena in Frankfurt, a DJ fuelled the mood of the spectators – after each point, music sounded at a volume that made it seem like we were in a nightclub, accompanied by a light show like at a Taylor Swift concert. Even during decisive points, heartbeat beats are played during the rally to artificially increase the tension. It takes some getting used to, but it’s entertaining – and as the extremely likeable Mouratoglou tells me in conversation, many young kids even use the UTS app and replay the format. Evidently, his vision seems to be meeting with approval.
Jan-Lennard Struff, Ben Shelton, Lorenzo Musetti
As for former Zenith CEO Julien Tornare, who is himself a big tennis fan and initiated the partnership in 2020, it was an ideal platform to present the watches to a younger audience. Mouratoglou acts as a brand ambassador and wears Zenith watches almost around the clock. ‘I feel naked without a watch,’ he says. Incidentally, his favourite model is his Defy El Primero 21 Patrick Mouratoglou Edition, designed in collaboration with Zenith and limited to 50 pieces, with each buyer receiving a personal training session with Mouratoglou. Another good reason for tennis fans to buy. Incidentally, his interest in mechanical watches was sparked by one of his former protégés. ‘When I was training Grigor Dimitrov, he introduced me to the world of mechanical watches. He is a real watch enthusiast and owns numerous models. It was through him that my passion for watches was awakened.’
Watch collector Grigor Dimitrov joins Bianchet
This brings us to the next professional player who has a close relationship with tennis and watches. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who is currently in the top 10 of the world rankings, was a Rolex brand ambassador for a long time before switching to a new watch brand in 2023, in which he is directly involved: Bianchet, founded in 2017 by Emmanuelle and Rodolfo Festa Bianchet, who create watches with an avant-garde design and focus upon the tourbillon complication. I’ve seen Dimitrov playing with a watch on his wrist recently, but I couldn’t put my finger on the brand. When I learnt from a conversation with Patrick Mouratoglou that Dimitrov is such a passionate watch enthusiast, I became curious. I wrote to Bianchet and was given the opportunity to talk to Dimitrov personally about his passion for watches and the new brand.
Grigor Dimitrov with Bianchet founders Emmanuelle and Rodolfo Festa Bianchet
His passion for watches began in his youth. When he became Wimbledon Junior World Champion at the age of 17, he bought his first mechanical watch with the prize money. It was a Romaine Jerome, which made a name for itself at the time by working moon dust into the watch cases and dials. In the meantime, he has amassed an entire watch collection with over 30 watches from MB&F, Rolex and Patek Philippe, among others. But when he got to know the watches and the founding couple of Bianchet through a mutual friend, he was immediately enthusiastic: ‘Even though I have Rolex and Patek Philippe watches in my collection, I tend to look for the unusual watch models, away from the mainstream. Bianchet is fresh, special, and I can best express my passion for watches through a young brand like Bianchet, where I can proactively participate in the entire development process,’ says Dimitrov. When Bianchet is working on a new model, he is even the first to test the prototypes while playing and then shares feedback, he adds. We talk shop for a while on the subject of watches and for a short while, I forget that I’m talking to one of the best tennis players in the world. A few years ago, I managed to get hold of one of Dimitrov’s original Wilson rackets, which he played personally and which later went on sale through a specialised dealer in Holland. I now have three of them. As I said at the beginning, I am somewhat tennis mad.
Dimitrov currently wears the Bianchet Tourbillon B1.618 Openwork in titanium-dust-carbon, with a remarkable power reserve of 105 hours. As the tourbillon is an extremely delicate mechanism, the watch had to be constructed in such a way that it can withstand the rapid movements of the wrist and shocks caused by impacts. It is therefore shock-resistant up to 6000 G.
Bianchet Tourbillon B1.618 Openwork in Titanium-Dust-Carbon
We will continue to keep an eye on the brand and look forward to seeing how it develops. The future certainly sounds promising: ‘The best it yet to come,’ says Dimitrov at the end of our conversation.
Rafael Nadal, the bull from Manacor, and his indestructible Richard Mille
Ultimately, the fact that more professional players are wearing watches on the court again today is thanks to Rafael Nadal and his collaboration with Richard Mille. After the era of Agassi, Becker and Edberg, the sport was increasingly primed for performance and optimisation and a professional player wearing a watch during a match became almost incomprehensible. Then, Rafael Nadal turned up at the French Open in 2010 with the RM-027 on his wrist. The player who had one of the most powerful strokes on the tour, of all people. The player who was known for his absolute perfection and meticulousness.
Rafael Nadal
Nadal initially declined with thanks when he heard about Richard Mille’s idea, and the latter travelled to Mallorca specially to present him with the plans for his first watch. ‘I’m delighted that you’ve come, but I can’t,’ Nadal told Mille. But when he saw the prototype, and how light and delicate it looked despite its striking aesthetics, he gave the watch a chance. And even though he was still worried at first that the watch might hinder his playing, all doubts were swept away when he wore it for the first time in training. The RM 027 was made of titanium with a LITAL alloy, which is used in the aerospace industry and made the watch just 20 grams light. Six different Rafael Nadal Editions have been released since 2010, which can withstand an impressive load of up to 10,000 grams. You can find an overview of all models in our detailed article.
Rafael Nadal with his first Richard Mille watch, the RM 027
The tennis watch fairytale continues
Thus it came to be that today, Hubert Hurkacz from Poland, Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland, Casper Ruud from Norway and Andrey Rublev are also wearing their watch sponsors on their wrists during the match. Hurkacz wears the limited-edition Maestro GC Sport from the Gerald Charles brand, made of lightweight grade 5 titanium and with a vulcanised rubber strap, which makes the watch particularly light when combined. Multiple Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka alternates between wearing the Wild One Skeleton Coral and Wild One Skeleton Gecko from the relatively young independent brand Norqain, which was only founded by Ben Küffler in 2018 but has quickly established itself, not least thanks to its outstanding movements from Kenissi and a fresh approach to watch marketing and design. Wawrinka’s watches are equipped with a novel case construction that encloses a rubber shock absorber between two case parts made of black ultra-light carbon fibre composite material called Norteq, developed by Norqain. This allows the watch to absorb shocks of up to 5000 G. A tennis player has also bought into a Norqain watch brand – Stan Wawrinka is now a partner in the company.
Hubert Hurkacz for Gerald Charles (left) and Stan Wawrinka for Norqain (right)
The Norwegian Casper Ruud has also bought into his watch sponsor Fleming. The brand was founded during the Covid pandemic by Thomas Fleming, who is now 27, and presented his first watch, the ‘Series 1 Launch Edition’, at the beginning of this year, of which there are seven in rose gold, nine in platinum and 25 in tantalum. Fleming has brought some of the best watchmakers in the industry on board for his creations. The movements for the current Series 1 Launch Edition were produced by renowned independent watchmaker Jean-François Mojon and his team at Chronode. Together with Casper Ruud, the brand is currently working on a lighter version, the Series 1 Ghost, for which Fleming has enlisted none other than Emmanuel Gueit, the creative mind behind AP’s Royal Oak Offshore. At the French Open in Paris in 2023, Casper Ruud even wore a Fleming prototype on the court when the brand was neither known nor had produced and sold its first watches. A bold move, but when Fleming – himself half Norwegian – informed the tennis star of his plans and future vision, Ruud, a great watch enthusiast, was immediately convinced and got on board.
Casper Ruud for Fleming
Hublot and Novak Djokovic
Hublot has also entered the tennis business and has signed 24-time Grand Slam and Olympic champion Novak Djokovic since 2021, who previously advertised for Seiko. This should please Hublot CEO and tennis fan Julien Tornare, previously at Zenith, having initiated the partnership with Patrick Mouratoglou’s UTS. The latest creation for the tennis player has just been unveiled, the Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic, limited to 100 pieces and made from 25 Head rackets as well as 17 dark blue and 15 light blue Lacoste polo shirts worn by the professional in the 2023 season. The buyer not only wears a high-quality collector’s item on their wrist, but also the original equipment of their idol – without any body odours or sweat stains. The recycled bats and jerseys are fused with epoxy resin, which is reinforced with quartz powder and glass fibres to create the speckled pattern of the case. When developing this watch, the watchmakers were also faced with the challenge of making it as light as possible. So instead of sapphire crystal, a hardened Gorilla glass was used, which is used in high-end electronics and is twice as light as sapphire. The Unico manufacture calibre was also modified to save weight. Instead of brass, Hublot chose lighter aluminium, anodised in light blue or grey to echo the camouflage pattern of the case. Depending on the strap option (there are four options), the watch weighs just 49.5 grams.
Novak Djokovic with the new Big Bang Unico Novak Djokovic
If you look closely, you will also find some details that are exclusive to this edition. The screw slots on the bezel are slightly curved and are reminiscent of a tennis ball. The second hand and the upper chronograph pusher are yellow and the Novak Djokovic logo can be seen on the glass back and the oscillating weight. Further details about the watch can be found here.
If you think we’ve already come to the end of the list, you’re wrong. There are numerous other players who are passionate watch collectors in their private lives, or who advertise on behalf of watch brands and wear their timepieces on the court. Gaël Monfils is said to have watches from Patek Philippe, Voutilainen, FP Journe and Greubel Forsey in his collection. Tommy Paul is a private watch enthusiast and official De Bethune testimonial and wore a DB28 LTC on the court at Wimbledon in 2023. Naomi Osaka and Felix Auger Aliassime are TAG Heuer Brand Ambassadors, while Andrey Rublev wears Bulgari and Daniil Medvedev Bovet. The former world number 4, Tomas Berdych, is also a great fan of watches in his private life (especially Patek) and advertises for the Czech jewellery and watch retailer Carollinum.
Tommy Paul for De Bethune, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Naomi Osaka for TAG Heuer and Andrey Rublev wears Bulgari
Rafael Nadal, who brought the watch game back onto the court, has just announced the end of his career. Now, however, his legacy will be passed onto the next generation on many a tennis player’s wrist.
