Rolex has a longstanding relationship with the world of tennis that dates all the way back to 1978 when the historic Swiss watch manufacturer became the Official Timekeeper at The Championships, Wimbledon. For the better part of the last half-century, Rolex has been a constant presence in the sport, and the brand currently sponsors all Grand Slam tournaments, in addition to some of the world’s top professional players.
As the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open is not only one of the biggest events in the world of tennis, but it is also one of the biggest sporting events in the entire Southern Hemisphere. First held in 1905 and nicknamed “The Happy Slam” by tennis legend and Rolex brand ambassador Roger Federer, the Australian Open holds the title of being the highest-attended Grand Slam event of the year, with more than 812,000 people attending the 2020 tournament.
Taking place each year at the Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park, the Australian Open is a favorite tournament for many players, as they all return rejuvenated after the off-season to compete for a Grand Slam title. With Rolex being both a sponsor of the tournament and a number of the competing players, you can guarantee that there will be a number of Rolex watches in attendance, but which models do Rolex’s top tennis ambassadors wear?
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Roger Federer – Rolex Datejust
Roger Federer is easily one of the greatest tennis players of all time, holding 20 Grand Slam titles and the record for the most title wins at Wimbledon. Federer has spent a total of 310 weeks at the number 1 spot in the ATP rankings, which also includes a record 237 consecutive weeks. With a total of 103 singles titles earned throughout his career, Roger Federer has won the Australian Open a total of 6 times, and is not just a legend within the world of tennis, but has become a true household name.
As both a Rolex brand ambassador and one of the greatest tennis players in the world, it goes without saying that the Swiss-born tennis star has access to virtually any Rolex watch that his heart desires. Federer has been spotted wearing a wide variety of different models, from solid gold Rolex Sky-Dweller watches and Day-Date references to Daytona and GMT-Master II watches in stainless steel and everything in between.
However, Roger Federer’s favorite Rolex watch, and the one that is most associated with him is the stylish Rolex Datejust ref. 116334 dress watch fitted with a distinct rhodium-colored dial featuring blue Arabic numerals. Although this is by no means his most flashy or expensive timepiece, this was the exact watch that he was wearing when he lifted the trophy after securing his 8th Wimbledon title, breaking Pete Sampras’s record, and securing himself a spot in the history books. To this day, Roger Federer’s Rolex Datejust II serves as a fond reminder of an important time in his life, his historic accomplishment, and all of the hard work and dedication that was required to achieve it.
Garbiñe Muguruza – Rolex Datejust
As one of Rolex’s most famous female brand ambassadors from the world of sports, Garbiñe Muguruza is a legend in the world of tennis. The Spanish-Venezuelan pro tennis player first reached the professional level in 2012 and she has since won a total of 7 singles titles, including 2 Grand Slam championships at the 2016 French Open and the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. Shortly after winning these two majors, Muguruza attained her career-high ranking of number 1 in the world.
Garbiñe Muguruza has been a fan of Rolex watches since before she became an ambassador for the brand. Muguruza’s success started its meteoric rise in 2014, and after reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, beating her childhood hero Serena Williams for the first time, and finally ending up being in the top 20, she decided to buy a Rolex to mark the occasion and to serve as a constant reminder that sacrifices can come with rewards.
Garbiñe Muguruza’s favorite Rolex watch is the 36mm Datejust in stainless steel and 18k white gold. Fitted with a stunning diamond-set dial and the brand’s iconic Jubilee bracelet, Muguruza’s Rolex Datejust 36 is also engraved with her name and the year 2014 to serve as an eternal reminder of how hard work leads to success.
Dominic Thiem – Rolex Daytona
Austrian-born tennis pro, Dominic Thiem is another Rolex ambassador with a Grand Slam title to his name. After finishing runner-up at the Australian Open in 2020, Thiem went on to win his first Grand Slam championship at the US Open later that same year, making him the first male player born in the 1990s to claim a Grand Slam singles title and the first-ever Austrian tennis player to win a singles title at the US Open.
As one would expect from a championship-winning professional tennis player and Rolex brand ambassador, Dominic Thiem has been spotted wearing a number of different Rolex watches, including both a stainless steel Datejust 41 with a blue dial and a Yacht-Master 42 with an Oysterflex bracelet in 18k white gold, which was the watch that he was wearing when he lifted the trophy after winning his first Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open.
However, Dominic Thiem’s favorite Rolex watch and the one that can be spotted on his wrist in the majority of photos of him taken off the court is the stainless steel Rolex Daytona ref. 116500 fitted with a black dial and matching black Cerachrom bezel. First released in 2016, the Rolex Daytona 116500LN is easily one of the hottest watches in the world, and the model has been completely sold out at retailers all around the globe ever since the morning that it was first announced. Modern, highly capable, and inherently sporty, a stainless steel and ceramic Daytona is the perfect watch for Dominic Thiem – and he seems to think so too!
Stéfanos Tsitsipás – Rolex Daytona
Born in 1998, Greek professional tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas is the youngest player to be ranked in the top 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and he has a career-high ranking of number 5 in the world. Tsitsipas has won a total of 5 singles titles, including the championship at the 2019 ATP finals, and his career-high No. 5 ranking makes him the highest-ranked Greek player in the entire history of the sport.
Like other Rolex brand ambassadors, it is highly likely that Stefanos Tsitsipas could wear virtually any Rolex watch he wants. With that in mind, his taste in watches seems to trend towards Rolex’s various sports models, and Tsitsipas can frequently be spotted with either a stainless steel Submariner or Daytona on his wrist when he is off the court.
However, it appears that Stefanos Tsitsipas doesn’t limit himself to just the brand’s steel models, and he has been photographed wearing the 18k white gold Rolex Daytona ref. 116519LN, which features a black ceramic bezel and a matching black Oysterflex bracelet. Equal parts luxurious and sporty, the Daytona 116519LN is the perfect accompaniment to the steel sports watches that Tsitsipas usually chooses to wear, and it can be spotted on his wrist during a number of post-match press conferences.
Angelique Kerber – Rolex Datejust
Angelique Kerber is a German professional tennis player and one of Rolex’s most famous female brand ambassadors. She first reached the professional level in 2003 and has won a total of 12 singles titles throughout her career. Angelique Kerber has won multiple Grand Slam championships, including the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wimbledon Championships, in addition to winning the silver medal while representing Germany at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Angelique Kerber reached the number 1 spot in the rankings after beating Serena Williams at the Australian Open in 2016. Kerber purchased her first Rolex watch in 2011 after she rose from a 91st ranked player to a surprise semifinalist at the US Open, marking the breakthrough point in her career and the start of her success in the sport. Kerber recalls only being in the Rolex boutique for about ten minutes because she already knew exactly which model she wanted.
Like many other Rolex brand ambassadors from the world of professional tennis, Kerber has been spotted wearing a number of different Rolex watches throughout the years, including a couple of different Datejust references and a stainless steel Daytona with a white dial and ceramic bezel. However, Angelique Kerber’s favorite Rolex is the one she bought for herself back in 2011 – a classic 36mm Datejust in stainless steel and 18k white gold, fitted with a diamond-set mother of pearl dial and a 3-link Oyster bracelet. The watch has become a part of her over the years, and she says that she feels good every time she wears it.
Karen Khachanov – Rolex GMT-Master II
Karen Khachanov is another professional tennis player and Rolex brand ambassador. The Russian-born tennis star signed a sponsorship agreement with Rolex in 2019 and has been spotted with a Rolex watch on his wrist ever since. Karen Khachanov has won four ATP singles titles thus far and achieved his career-high singles ranking of number 8 in the world in July 2019, after reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open that same year.
As far as Karen Khachanov’s favorite Rolex watch, it seems the Russian tennis pro tends to favor the stainless steel and Everose gold Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 126711CHNR, which features a distinct bi-color Cerachrom bezel made from black and brown ceramic with rose gold numerals. Like other two-tone GMT-Master watches that feature brown bezels, the reference 126711CHNR is frequently referred to by its “Root Beer” nickname by collectors and enthusiasts.
With its two-tone finish of stainless steel and 18k Everose gold (Rolex’s proprietary rose gold alloy), the GMT-Master II 126711CHNR is the type of watch that can easily be worn everywhere from the beach to a formal dinner and never look out of place. Elegant yet inherently sporty, the Rolex GMT-Master II’s ability to simultaneously track multiple time zones makes it the perfect timepiece for a professional athlete that is always traveling to the next international tournament location.
Juan Martín del Potro – Rolex Datejust
Juan Martín del Potro is another professional tennis player and Rolex brand ambassador that has a Grand Slam title to his name. Nicknamed “Delpo” by friends and fans of the sport, Juan Martín del Potro is a celebrated tennis veteran that has recently stepped away from competing so that he can properly recover from a knee injury that occurred in 2019. Juan Martín del Potro has a career-high ranking of number 3 in the world, and he claimed his Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open by defeating fellow Rolex ambassador Roger Federer in the finals.
As far as Juan Martín del Potro’s favorite Rolex watch, the Argentinian tennis pro has been spotted wearing a number of different Rolex watches over the years including the stainless steel Sky-Dweller and a variety of different Datejust models. However, there is one watch that seems to be his clear favorite and that is the 41mm Rolex Datejust in stainless steel and 18k yellow gold, fitted with a matching Oyster bracelet and the brand’s signature “Wimbledon” dial.
Nicknamed after the famous tennis tournament that marks the start of Rolex’s relationship with the sport, the Wimbledon dial features a rhodium colored surface with black Roman numeral hour markers that are outlined in green – a reference to the grass courts that define the historic tournament. As the quintessential Rolex tennis watch, the Wimbledon dial Datejust is the perfect timepiece for Juan Martín del Potro, and there exist countless photos of the tennis star wearing his both at tournaments and in his personal life.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – Rolex Milgauss
Although he has not won a Grand Slam title, French tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has reached the quarter-final stage of all four Grand Slam events and has plenty of other accomplishments credited to his name. Tsonga placed second at the 2008 Australian Open (as an unseeded player no less) and went on to win the championship later that year at the 2008 Paris Masters. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s career-high ATP singles ranking is number 5 in the world, which he achieved in February 2012.
Like many of Rolex’s other brand ambassadors from the world of tennis, Tsonga has been spotted wearing a variety of Rolex Datejust watches over the years in addition to the ultra-desirable stainless steel and ceramic Daytona ref. 116500LN. However, another Rolex watch that seems to be one of Tsonga’s favorites and that one that he was wearing when he held up the trophy after winning the Canadian Open (formerly known as the Rogers Cup) is the Milgauss ref. 116400GV.
Characterized by its green-tinted sapphire crystal, the Rolex Milgauss 116400GV is the only watch in the brand’s entire history to feature a colored crystal over the dial. Originally designed for scientists and laboratory workers, the Rolex Milgauss offers users superior magnetic resistance, and the reference 116400GV features a lightning bolt-shaped seconds hand finished in bright orange. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been spotted wearing his Milgauss in a number of different photos, and this unconventional Rolex model seems to be one of his clear favorites.
