Yesterday was the men’s finals of the 2021 French Open, with Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on Novak Djokovic from Serbia. As you can probably imagine, a decent number of the world’s top professional tennis players are sponsored by watch brands, and you can typically spot a variety of different luxury timepieces on the clay courts of Roland Garros each year.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is a well-known Rolex ambassador, and he can frequently be spotted wearing a number of the brand’s watches. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is sponsored by Japanese watchmaker Seiko, and he has even collaborated with the brand to produce a special limited-edition Seiko Astron model. Djokovic ultimately defeated Tsitsipas, winning this year’s French Open and taking home his 19th Grand Slam title; however, both players are among the most high-profile ambassadors for their respective brands, so it is definitely worth taking a closer look at the different watches that each tennis star chooses to wear.
Novak Djokovic – Seiko Watches
Serbian-born tennis superstar and Seiko watches ambassador, Novak Djokovic is at the top of his game. Currently ranked number 1 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Djokovic has held the No. 1 ranking for a record total of 325 weeks and he has finished as year-end No. 1 a total of six times (an Open Era record) and won 19 Grand Slam men’s singles titles and 84 ATP singles titles overall. Just earlier this year, Djokovic won the Australian Open, which marks his third consecutive championship at the event and a record ninth time overall that he has taken home the title.
Since the start of 2014, Novak Djokovic has been sponsored by Seiko and in 2016, the Japanese watchmaker renewed its agreement with the Serbian tennis star. Initially, Djokovic wore a variety of different Seiko watches to suit different aspects of his life. However, last year in 2020, Novak Djokovic collaborated with Seiko to create a special Novak Djokovic limited-edition Astron GPS Solar watch that features the colors of the flags of both Japan and Serbia. Powered by light and capable of automatically resetting itself in accordance with its current location on earth, the Seiko Astron GPS Solar is the perfect watch for Djokovic and his fast-pace pro-tennis player lifestyle.
Interestingly, Novak Djokovic is sponsored by Seiko rather than Grand Seiko. Unlike Seiko, which produces watches at an incredibly wide range of prices from a couple hundred dollars all the way up to several thousand dollars, Grand Seiko exclusively produces luxury watches and even the least expensive models will cost you a minimum of a few grand. The likely explanation for this is that Grand Seiko only became its own separate company in 2017 and until 2010, its watches were exclusively sold in Japan. Some luxury watch collectors compare Grand Seiko vs Rolex watches when deciding which brand to purchase for their new watch. When Seiko first struck its multi-million dollar deal with Djokovic in 2014, it likely didn’t make much sense to have him promote a line of watches that had only recently become available internationally.
Stefanos Tsitsipas – Rolex Watches
At just 22 years old, 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 No. 4 in the world, making him the highest-ranked Greek tennis player in history. This year marked the second consecutive French Open semifinal and third consecutive Grand Slam semifinal for Tsitsipas. During the semifinal match, Tsitsipas beat Alexander Zverev in five sets to become the first Greek tennis player in history to reach a Grand Slam final.
Stefanos Tsitsipas may be still chasing down his first Grand Slam title, but his incredibly young age virtually guarantees that the best is still ahead for this Greek tennis star. Born in 1998, Tsitsipas is a full twelve years younger than Djokovic who just defeated him in the 2021 French Open finals, and seventeen years younger than fellow Rolex ambassador and Swiss tennis superstar, Roger Federer. Djokovic may be at the very top of his game, but the best years have yet to come for Tsitsipas and Rolex seems to agree as he now joins the ranks among some of the most famous names in the sport on Rolex’s roster of ambassadors.
When it comes to which Rolex watches Stefanos Tsitsipas chooses to wear, the Greek tennis star tends to favor the brand’s various sports watches with the Daytona and Submariner appearing to be among his favorites. On numerous occasions, Tsitsipas has been spotted wearing the stainless steel Daytona reference 116500LN and the 18k white gold reference 116519LN on a black Oysterflex bracelet. Additionally, Tsitsipas also seems to be a fan of the two-tone Submariner reference 116613LN, which features a case and bracelet crafted from 904L stainless steel and 18k yellow gold, fitted with a black dial and matching black Cerachrom ceramic bezel. Stefanos Tsitsipas seems to be improving with each tournament, and we can’t imagine that it will be very long before the Greek star is holding up the trophy – inevitably with a Rolex watch on his wrist.
