Tennis and watches go together like strawberries and cream, purple and green, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. Along with serving up smashing play and 190,900 portions of the All England Club’s favourite summertime snack, the tournament offers the watch enthusiast an abundance of spot-the-luxury-timepiece opportunities. It’s a satisfying seasonal pastime, like recognising a dapper celeb in the royal box.
Even before the days when Agassi was armed with a Longines watch, Björn Borg flashed an impressive Cartier collection, and later Serena Williams would rock her Audemars Piguet rose gold Royal Oak Offshore to lift the silver salver trophy.
Of course, precision and timekeeping are crucial for the game and the clocks at Wimbledon have been in the hands of Rolex since 1978. Other brands act as official timekeepers for tournaments around the world, but Rolex is guardian of the clocks at all four Grand Slam events (including the US, French and Australian Opens).
The Swiss brand also counts among its friends a stable of top tennis players — “Testimonees” in Rolex parlance. Most notable has to be the eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer: in the past he’s worn a Rolex Le Mans Daytona to lift the men’s trophy, but he’s also keen on the Sky-Dweller and the titanium Yacht-Master II.
Stepping into Federer’s tennis shoes is the 21-year-old Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s Wimbledon men’s singles title and is a fellow Testimonee and fan of the Daytona. Other players with ties to the house include the world No 1 Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti, plus Iga Swiatek, Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Angelique Kerber, Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki, to name a handful.
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With 24 Grand Slams under his belt, it is hardly surprising that the world No 2, Novak Djokovic, sports a Hublot Big Bang. Bold and unapologetic, this highly technical timepiece is made from cutting-edge materials and powered by in-house movements. Djokovic has repped the brand since 2021, joining Usain Bolt and Pelé.
The same year, the 26-year-old Russian player Andrey Rublev courted attention from Bulgari and became the brand’s first tennis ambassador, helping to launch the Aluminium Match Point edition last year, the one he wears while smashing forehands.
His collection includes three aluminium models, a blue Octo Roma and two Octo Finissimo pieces. The Switzerland-born player Stan Wawrinka, meanwhile, shares Serena Williams’ love of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore chronograph.
Putting its spin on the tennis world, Tag Heuer numbers Félix Augur-Aliassime, the 23-year-old Canadian star, among its ambassadors. His model of choice is an Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph, while his fellow ambassador Naomi Osaka, the Japanese four-time Grand Slam winner, plays wearing the limited-edition Aquaracer watch she helped to create.
Also playing the green-dial card is the Poland-born world No 7 Hubert Hurkacz, who wore his Gerald Charles Maestro GC Sport Grass in a recent tournament. This high-performance watch is made from lightweight titanium and has a hammered green dial and a 5G shock-resistant ultra-thin movement.
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The most famous of players sporting wristwear on court is Rafael Nadal, who competes left-handed with a Richard Mille on his right wrist. Creating a piece that could withstand the stresses and G-force of the Spaniard’s double-handed backhand was a technical feat for the watchmaker. Nadal isn’t taking part in Wimbledon this year (after kicking up the clay at the French Open, he’s concentrating on training for the Olympics) but now has an even more sophisticated piece to take the strain: the RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, which weighs 11.5g (excluding the strap) and is made from a new carbon composite that can withstand G-force of 14,000 — necessary when Nadal’s serves can exceed 110mph.
There’s a theory that the curious scoring system in tennis results from the clocks that were originally used to keep score. Starting with both players on zero, their scores move in incremental 15 or 10 points, like the way a clock or watch face is organised, and a visual record of the score can be made by controlling the hands. It’s speculation but, true or not, the relationship between the sport and horology remains a significant, and commercially lucrative, one.
