Watches and tennis: what’s on the wrists of the world’s rackets stars
When approaching the golden Olympus of world tennis, one encounters the elite of the greatest players – also in the field of watches. Especially since these tournaments, including the Australian Open, the upcoming round of the Grand Slam played, become a major opportunity to show off your world-class watches.
30 grams for Rafa Nadal
Richard Mille, which has always linked its image to the most extreme sports, takes a chance on many other brands, on the wrist of its standard-bearer, Rafa Nadal. Until 2008, the Spaniard had always refused to wear a watch on the court. However, after many years of intense work with Maison’s technical staff, and several editions of watches on his wrist, he finally obtained a timepiece that meets all his requirements.
His watch is lightweight, precise, indestructible – and incredibly exclusive. The RM27-04 is a Titacarb “monster” weighing just 30 grams that can withstand accelerations of 12,000 g. It features a unique design that suspends the movement from an intertwined steel cable – a net similar to the strings of a tennis racket. A “toy” worth a million CHF, give or take.
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Danil Medvedev: the Swiss you don’t expect
The number two seed, Danil Medvedev, wears a Bovet 1822 instead. The Swiss watchmaker, creator of watches extremely sophisticated, recently teamed up with the young Russian tennis player. So, now, Medvedev wears a Bovet OttantaSei – a piece of haute horology that the Russian wears as soon as he drops his racket and speaks at a press conference.
Designed by Pininfarina, the OttantaSei is a sporty version of the Virtuoso collection. It offers a time display and power reserve (reaching ten days of autonomy) in a skeletonized mechanism. A 44 mm blued titanium case and exposed case back provide a privileged view of the flying tourbillon. Compared to the Nadal watch, it has an almost popular price tag: only 170,000 CHF.
High in the sky
The German Alexander Zverev has recently changed his jacket also in the watchmaking sector; after a period under the wing of Richard Mille, he has passed into the shadow of the crown, Rolex. Therefore, he joined a large patrol of tennis players such as Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Igor Dimitrov.
Now, in his Instagram profile, he wears a Rolex Skydweller in white Rolesor (steel and white gold), which fits well with his active life as a globetrotting player, thanks to the annual calendar and GMT function to calculate a second-time zone. A daily beater for 15,000 CHF, list price.
Djokovic and the new Hublot
And we couldn’t close without mentioning the great absentee. Novak Djokovic, the number one who was thrown out of the country, gambling his chance to win the Grand Slam, and probably, his career, recently began a partnership with Hublot, to develop a timepiece dedicated to him.
In the meantime, he wore a Big Bang Meca-10 Blue Ceramic, an iconic watch for the Swiss Maison. The 45 mm of its deep blue technical case encloses the HUB 1201 manufacture caliber, strong with a power reserve of a good ten days, shown by an unusual rack-and-pinion indicator. It is a very inexpensive timepiece (for Djokovic), with its 22,000 CHF list price. Perhaps, with the clouds on the horizon regarding his sponsorship contracts, the Serbian player already started to save money.
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