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More Than $2 Million in Watches Spotted at US Open, Nadal Wins Wearing $725,000 Richard Mille

The partnership between Rafael Nadal and @Richard_Mille has led to a string of successes on the courts for the Majorcan tennis champion, most recently winning THE U.S.OPEN.

Following his French Open success in June, it is the first time since 2013 that Nadal has won two Slams in a year.

“I wake up every morning with the passion to go on court and to try to improve things,” he said.

“I still want to compete and still feel the nerves every time that I go on court. While that keeps happening, I will be here.

“When some day arrives that I don’t feel the nerves or that extra passion for the game that I feel, it will be the day to say, ‘OK, I do another thing.’

“I am 31, I’m not 25, but I still have the passion and the love for the game.”

Nadal’s victory took him three away from Roger Federer’s all-time record of 19 Grand Slam titles, and the pair shared all four major victories between them in 2017.

That came after both men ended their 2016 seasons early through injury, casting doubts on their ability to even challenge for the biggest titles again.

“I just can say thanks to life for that opportunity,” said Nadal.

“Probably that’s why I still have chances to compete in this sport and to do it well. That’s all.”

In America, the news all weekend long was more about Hurricane Irma than about the US Open. While Florida was ravaged by Irma, the US Open Tennis Championships played on — coming to a close last night.  The results were stellar. @RafaelNadal wearing his $725,000 Richard Mille Tourbillon  during play — clinched the men’s singles win, claiming his third U.S. Open championship. This was his 16th major title. We also witnessed a host of other top name watch brands with brand ambassadors at the US Open. Before we move on to those watch brand ambassadors, it should be noted that 24-year-old Sloane Stephens defeated Madison Keyes for the women’s singles win. Neither woman is yet to be affiliated with a watch brand as an ambassador, but we think that will change soon for Stephens, who defeated the odds to claim the title.

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Easily the top watch brand on the courts during the U.S. Open was Richard Mille. That is because the astute Mille requires his brand ambassadors to wear their timepieces during play. The brand, therefore, consistently builds timepieces that can weather the elements, absorb the shocks and resist tough wear and tear.  On the court at the US Open, not only was Nadal — who has consistently been in the Forbes Highest-Paid Male Athletes list — wearing the $725,000 RM 27-03 watch, but also brand ambassador and tennis champ Alexander Zverev wore his nearly $700,000 watch during play. Together, approximately $1.5 million in Richard Mille watches were on the courts on the wrists of these two players.For those who love Rolex, the brand also is highly involved in the world of tennis. A supporter of many tennis events around the world, Rolex has a healthy list of tennis champs on its brand ambassador roster, including the famed Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Them, Justine Heinn, Milos Raonic, Bjorn Borg and Li-Na.

Lesser known to many,  Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan — the Bryan Brothers-– are brand ambassadors for Baume & Mercier. They wear the brand’s Clifton Club watches off the court.  On the female side, Elina Svitolina is aUlysse Nardin brand ambassador, and was seen off court wearing the brand’s Lady Marine chronometer.We would have witnessed a host of other brands, as well, however, for this year’s US Open, a number of the unusual suspects were out due to injury or other reason.  Novak Djokovic — who wears a Seiko watch named for him – was out due to injury. The same is true of Stan Wawrinka, who is an Audemars Piguet brand ambassador.  Also an Audemars Piguet ambassador, the famed Serena Williams was out — giving birth to her first child.

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Fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza led the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles rankings while US Open champion Sloane Stephens capped her fairy-tale comeback from injury by climbing 66 places – from 83 to 17.

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Rafael Nadal and Garbine Muguruza ensured a Spanish double at the top of the latest singles rankings. 

Nadal, 16-time Grand Slam champion, on Sunday won his third US Open title with a dominating 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over big-serving South African Kevin Anderson.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer moved to the second position, while Britain’s Andy Murray, who is currently out of action due to a hip injury, remains at third.

German Alexander Zverev jumped to the fourth position, ahead of Marin Cilic. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic moved down to the sixth place, while Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka dropped four positions to occupy the eighth.

After a semi-final finish in New York, Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta jumped nine positions to join the top 10 list.

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In the women’s singles rankings, Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova dropped three positions to take the fourth place.

Simona Halep of Romania came in second, followed by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

After making it to her 3rd Grand Slam final this year, Venus Williams jumped four places to occupy the fifth position ahead of sixth placed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova climbed to ninth spot, while Latvia’s French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko grabbed the 10th position.SharaSimona Halep

US Open 2017 runner up Madison Keys climbed four places to take the 12th spot in the latest rankings.

Rafael “Rafa” Nadal Parera , born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked World No. 1 in men’s singles.  Known as “The King of Clay”, he is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history.  His evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest tennis players ever.

Nadal has won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, an all-time record of 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, tied with Novak Djokovic, and an all-time record 18 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, tied with Roger Federer. He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008,2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singlesCareer Golden Slam. In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.  The left-hander is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach more than 100 finals on the ATP World Tour.

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Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only two male players who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay.  At the 2014 French Open, he became the first male to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for ten consecutive years, breaking the record of eight consecutive years previously shared by Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer. By winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2012, Nadal became the only male player in the open era to win a tournament eight consecutive times. Nadal is the only male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam and at least one Masters 1000 title for ten consecutive years from 2005–2014. He beat Guillermo Vilas‘s Open Era record of 49 clay-court titles by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. Nadal became the only man to win the same tournament 10 times by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2017. He repeated this historic achievement by winning the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell for a 10th time just a few weeks later. By winning the 2017 French Open, Nadal became the only male and second overall to win a single Grand Slam tournament 10 times after Margaret Court 11 Australian championships.