Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are the most marketable tennis players right now. Among their host of endorsements, all members of the Big 3 are associated with different luxury watch brands. Federer and Djokovic have deals with Rolex and Hublot, respectively, while Nadal represents Richard Mille. The Spaniard leaves his rivals behind when it comes to watch sponsors as he dons a timepiece significantly more expensive.
Luxury watchmakers have always sought out elite tennis players to promote their products. Players over the years have been spotted wearing their sponsors’ watches while playing or lifting trophies. Federer’s Rolex deal is a quintessential and pioneering example of such an agreement. However, Nadal surprisingly pulls ahead of the heavily marketable Swiss with a bumper deal of his own, which nearly did not happen.
When Rafael Nadal nearly rejected Richard Mille
Richard Mille onboarded Nadal in a lucrative deal in 2010 and their partnership has continued till date. However, the partnership was close to not materializing because of the the latter not being ready to wear a watch while playing. The Swiss watchmaker had been trying to onboard Nadal from 2008 but he refused to budge.
To convince him, Mille created a special limited edition wristwatch to suit his needs while playing. A custom RM 027 Tourbillon watch was made specifically for Nadal, weighing only 20 grams. Only 50 units were released for public sale at $525,000 each in 2010.
At the 2012 French Open, the Richard Mille watch was reportedly stolen from Nadal’s hotel room. As per CNBC, the timepiece, then worth $370,000, was found later and returned. The former World No.1 kept his loyalty to the watch brand, which kept releasing updated versions of their special Nadal watches.
They completed 10 years of partnership in 2010 and to commemorate the occasion, Mille launched the RM 27-04 watch, priced at $1.05 million for retail (Forbes). Again, only 50 pieces were made for public sale. Rapper Drake is one of the few to own the million-dollar watch, which weighs only about 30 grams.
Nadal continues to wear the newest version of his Mille watch. It is valued at approximately $945,000 (£780,000), as per The Sun. This puts his wrist ornament miles ahead of his rivals. For context, one of the most famous watches worn by Federer was the Rolex GMT-Master II, valued at about $13,300 (£11000). Djokovic often sports a Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 Blue Ceramic, estimated to be around $23,000 (£19,100).
Ironically, like Nadal, the Serb was also reluctant to wear a watch on the court. However, he too, had a custom watch made for him and then agreed to endorse the brand back in 2021.
Nadal net worth, earnings and endorsements
Nadal is one of the top earners in tennis, raking in huge sums from brand deals alone. From the court, he has made $134,640,719 in prize money for singles and doubles combined (as per the ATP website). This puts him second on the list of highest prize money earnings for a tennis player, only behind Djokovic. Paired with the money from his endorsements and investments, this pushed his net worth to $323.61 million in February 2023.
Apart from being the most-followed tennis player in the world on Instagram, Nadal is a marketing favourite. Apart from Richard Mille, he endorses Nike, Babolat, Kia Motors, Santander, Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Telefonica. He also operated the Rafa Nadal Academy and has a presence in the real estate, sports management, venture capital, and hospitality markets.
Despite barely featuring on the court, Nadal made $15.5 million in 2022-23, with $14 million coming from outside tennis. Djokovic topped the Forbes list with $38.4 million. However, both of them are dwarfed by Federer, who continues to be the most marketable tennis player. The Swiss legend earned a stunning $95.1 million despite retiring.
Set to return at the 2024 Australian Open, the numbers for Rafael Nadal will go up and look much healthier next season.
