Tennis Prose




Jul/21

7

How Rolex And Wimbledon Struck A Deal

If there is any brand that immediately comes to mind with The Championships of Wimbledon it’s Rolex. Rolex clocks on center court scoreboards are the only visible sponsor brand at the AELTC.

So how did Rolex and Wimbledon work out their deal and come to an agreement which has been mutually beneficial for decades? Keep in mind, Rolex does not produce clocks, it’s makes high quality watches.

The deal was made in 1978 by IMG Founder Mark McCormack and Rolex chairman Andre Heiniger. At first, Heiniger had no interest to associate his brand with sports. So then McCormack invited Heiniger to attend his first Wimbledon and set it up so his special guest could sit in the Royal Box. After watching his first Grand Slam grass court match, Heiniger stood up and declared, “Now this is Rolex.” Eventually Heiniger and McCormack negotiated the Rolex clock onto the Wimbledon scoreboard. And the rest is history.

Rolex is now synonomous with Wimbledon and Roger Federer, a longtime brand ambassador for the watchmaker. Rolex is also the lead sponsor of the Monte Carlo and Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000 tournaments.

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5 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 7, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    Actually I saw center court the Coco McNally vs Vesnina Kudermetova doubles match and noticed now CC has a few additional logos along with Rolex. There is a Jaguar logo, Slazenger logo and something called Oggo on the wall. Very small low key branding logos but still they are surely advertising. BTW something happened in that match I never saw before. Kudermetova was serving at 5-6 in the first and was behind love 40. She and Vesnina then won five points in a row to hold serve 6-6. Then they won 7 more points in a row to win the breaker 7-0. 12 points in a row from triple set point down love-40. maybe the only time in history this has happened.

  • catherine · July 8, 2021 at 2:34 am

    What happened to Robinsons Barley Water ? The brand used to be available at the umpire’s chair in the days before players took TV mandated breaks between games.

    Mind you, I never saw anyone drinking it.

    Slazenger has been on CC for as long as I can remember. All very discreet though.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 8, 2021 at 7:41 am

    Good question Catherine, never had the chance to drink a cup of barley water. Guess it’s a British thing.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 8, 2021 at 8:10 am

    Robinsons is still the official soft drink of Wimbledon.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 10, 2021 at 11:11 am

    Ash Barty is the clear best player in the world, today she won her first Wimbledon singles title with a thrilling three set win vs Karolina Pliskova who came out shooting errors losing the first 12 points but found her groove and gave a spirited fight forcing Barty to earn it the hard way. Great final wtih Tom Cruise in the house.

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