Behind The Wrist Game With Tennis And Watches
5 min read
The Babolat Pure Aero 98 racket that Carlos Alcaraz plays with has an unstrung weight of 305 grams. For the 2025 season, his team decided to add an extra five grams to it. Still, it’s one of the lightest rackets on the pro-tour, and for a player with an aggressive baseline game, seems like an unorthodox weight choice. But ‘Carlitos’ is more than capable of generating all power and spin with his forearm. Those extra five grams (achieved by strategically applying lead strips inside the frame), while seemingly insignificant, will benefit his offensive game style with an added power boost.
That’s the difference mere five grams can make in tennis!
Likewise, with any such grams added on the wrist as accessories, the overall balance and impact of the swing can alter. That’s why it’s nothing but a perplexing occurrence that nowadays it’s very common for players to wear wristwatches while playing. Tennis is all about feel, the confidence in the swing, and strangely sometimes - the hesitation to adjust. While the on-court watch trend is gaining major traction now, it’s not totally novel.
In the late 1970s, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, and Björn Borg, somewhat started the trend of wearing watches - on and off the court. This was a not-so-subtle co-incidence with Rolex becoming the official timekeeper at Wimbledon in 1978. The 70s and 80s were a period of style-boom in tennis with designer outfits and crazy hairstyles becoming a frequent sight. So, wearing a watch as an accessory fit the then-theme of tennis’ aesthetic renaissance.
A Brief Talk About Tennis, The Sport
While in literal comprehension with regards to the many vulnerabilities of a mechanical wristwatch and the excessively aggressive game of tennis, there seems no logical pairing of the two. Well, that’s natural to attribute when you think about something like a classic dress watch. Beyond the game-fit execution of a mechanical wristwatch, it’s the glamorous nature of the sport of tennis and its obvious fixation on individual glory that make this ‘elitist sport’ synonymous with all the fine things in life, including luxury watches.
Tennis is an expensive sport at all levels. From costly membership fees for clubs and courts, to the actual cost of the equipment, it’s not the usual gateway preference into mass-athleticism affinity, like running is nowadays. Did I forget the shoes? A decent pair of hard-court kicks that cost anywhere from ₹8k to ₹15k usually last for 45-60 hours before wearing out. So, a replacement is imminent every three months if you play a decent amount.
So, it’s not that hard to deduce that the ones finding fun in it would usually have a strong wrist game!
Watches To Play With
I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that I’m a bit of a tennis nerd. Although I’ve been following it for long enough, I picked up the sport recently in 2022, and boy is it fun! It’s one of the most rewarding sports. Every thud on a clean ball strike is literal music to auditory senses and the satisfaction from a perfectly executed dropshot, well, it’s eternal. Also, on the note of watches, I’ve never dared to wear any mechanical watch while playing. It’s always some fitness tracker gadget-y thing on the wrist telling me I’m still alive. The sceptical in me prevents the daring. Also, I don’t own a Richard Mille (insert sad face emoji here).
Post the Agassi-era, the idea of tennis players wearing watches on the court was significantly subdued, owing to the major technology and analytics integration with player performance optimization. So, an unwanted extra of grams on the wrist? Not a chance!
For contemporary popularization of the ‘wear a watch while playing tennis’ trend, the major impetus is attributed to none other than Rafael Nadal. At Roland Garros 2010, Rafa wore the Richard Mille RM-027 for the slam’s entirety. For a player overly-obsessed with meticulousness (you must be familiar with his bottle placement routine), it’s not impossible to imagine that even the ticking sound of his watch would be a distraction. Yet, the many iterations of the RM 027 series have been a consistent element of his on-court ensemble.
It’s also down to the ‘close-to-nothing’ weight of these watches.
Lightweight Technology And Shock Resistance
The ‘climactic conclusion to the RM 027 saga’ at Richard Mille came with the RM 27-05 Manual Winding Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal. This is a watch that weighs a negligible 11.5 grams. Its weight however isn’t the only tennis-friendly spec, as the watch comes with a shock-resistance of 14,000 g’s. That’s more than enough to suit a player with the most powerful strokes on the pro-tour.
For mechanical watches to get from ‘too dainty to wear while drilling’ to literally ‘safe when hitting a rocket forehand down the line,’ it took a lot of innovation in material technology, shock resistance, movement construction and skeletonization. With watches becoming more lightweight and durable, players wearing a Richard Mille, Bianchet, De Bethune, Gerald Charles and even an F.P. Journe, while on the court, is a frequent spotting.
Also, with ATP and WTA players entitled to inflating prize money (U.S. Open 2024 singles winner earned $3.6 million) and with global tennis viewership charting a favorable growth, brand endorsements and tournament sponsorships are a natural call.
Tennis And Watch Brand Sponsorships
With both the ATP and WTA competitions touring the world’s wealthiest cities all year long, the level of exposure is impossible to overlook for watch brands. There’s also the occasional commentary from the great John McEnroe about Rafa playing the game in his “half-million-dollar watch.” Now, that’s legitimate attention!
A big selection of brands advertises products on the wrists of the world’s greatest players when playing on the world’s greatest courts. The sports-watchmaking endorsement is a very bankable endeavor, and after what Rolex and Roger Federer achieved, it’s sort of becoming a new standard for the individual sport of tennis.
Today, watches and tennis are more intimately linked than ever before.
