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Can a watch brand have a favorite sport? Anyone who sees how intensively Rolex supports tennis might quickly come to that conclusion. In this article, we look at the close relationship between the renowned Swiss luxury watch brand and the "white sport" – and one of its greatest stars, Roger Federer.
Tennis: From Upper-Class Pastime to Popular Spectator Sport
Tennis was originally played only in aristocratic circles and among the upper middle class, and so it was regarded as an elite leisure pursuit well into the 20th century. That only changed in the second half of the century. In Germany, it was above all the great and lasting success of Steffi Graf and Boris Becker in the 1980s and 1990s that made tennis hugely popular, driving up attendance in tennis stadiums, TV audiences, and the number of active players alike. Even so, the "white sport," as it is also known because of the players' traditionally white attire, is still associated with elegance and a refined lifestyle today.
Small wonder, then, that a renowned luxury watchmaker like Rolex considers tennis one of its preferred sports and feels particularly at home as a sponsor in this world.
Rolex and Tennis: A Relationship Built Over Decades
Although the sport has only been played under the name tennis since the 1870s, its roots go back several centuries further. Jeu de paume, played with the bare hand rather than a racket, was already popular in the 13th century, and in the 16th century a number of commercially operated courts were built for it in Paris. The birth of tennis as we know it, however, came only in 1874, when British Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented a game called Sphairistikè and set down binding rules for it for the first time.
The Greek word means "ball games," but since the game was initially played mostly on grass, the English name lawn tennis soon caught on. Since July 1877, when the first championships were held at Wimbledon, the game has been played under new rules that have remained essentially unchanged to this day. Back then, a British player won the tournament – in front of all of 200 spectators. After being dropped from the Olympic program in 1925, the sport only returned as an Olympic discipline in 1988.
Ten years earlier, in 1978, Rolex had served as official timekeeper of the Wimbledon Championships for the first time. It marked the beginning of an extensive commitment to tennis that the prestigious manufacture has maintained to this day.
Grand Slam: The "Big Four" from the Australian Open to the US Open
Known as the Grand Slam, the series of the four most important tennis tournaments in the world comprises the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships, and the US Open. They are not only especially steeped in tradition and prestige, but also particularly lucrative for successful players. Nowhere else is higher prize money paid out. And no other tournament offers more points toward a player's world ranking.
For tennis players, a particular crowning achievement in their favorite sport is the so-called Career Grand Slam. This means winning all four Grand Slam tournaments, though not necessarily within the same year or in consecutive order. In singles, only eight men have accomplished this so far, including Andre Agassi (1999), Roger Federer (2009), Rafael Nadal (2010), and Novak Đoković (2016), along with ten women, among them Martina Navrátilová (1983), Steffi Graf (1988), Serena Williams (2003), and Maria Sharapova (2012).
Roger Federer: Tennis Ace and Admirer of the Brand
One example of how Rolex inspires tennis – and vice versa – is the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer. Born in Basel in 1981, he has achieved so much in his favorite sport that sports experts already call him the greatest tennis player in history. He held the top spot in the world rankings for a total of 310 weeks, 237 of them consecutively – a feat unmatched to date. He finished five years as world No. 1 and was also the oldest player ever to top the rankings.
With 20 Grand Slam titles in men's tennis, he holds a record, and he has also won more than 100 singles titles and eight doubles titles in total. Three times he even won three Grand Slam tournaments in a single season, and with eight singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships he is the tournament's current record holder. He has claimed six titles at the Australian Open and five at the US Open, and has so far won the French Open once.
Numerous other tournament wins round out his incredible track record, and as a five-time World Sportsman of the Year, he has received this honor more often than any other athlete in the world. In this unparalleled success story, one Rolex holds a very special place. By his own account, it reminds Roger Federer of the summer of 2009, when his twin daughters were born and he broke the Grand Slam record previously held by Pete Sampras.
The watch in question is an Oyster Perpetual Datejust, which he wore on his wrist as he was presented with the trophy.
Why Does Rolex Support Tennis?
In the years ahead, watch enthusiasts can likely continue to enjoy the strong presence and wide-ranging activities through which Rolex supports tennis – because the two simply go very well together. Just as successful tennis players must be physically robust and at the same time extremely precise to withstand the demands of the game and defeat their opponents, Rolex watches are equally robust and exceptionally accurate. On top of that, tennis still enjoys a reputation as a particularly elegant sport, and timeless elegance – alongside technical reliability and robustness – is one of the hallmarks of Rolex.
Small wonder, then, that among the spectators at a Grand Slam tournament, the share of those who prefer a watch bearing the distinctive crown logo is likely to be considerably higher than in the general population...
