Audemars Piguet Sponsors Premier Padel: Tapia Wears a $35,000 Watch

Audemars Piguet has officially joined Premier Padel as a luxury sponsor, and Agustín Tapia is already the face of the partnership. The Argentine left-hander is now sporting a Royal Oak on his wrist courtside, a piece valued at over 35,000 euros. It is a statement move for both the brand and the tour.

This is not the first time padel's elite have mixed sport and high horology. The trend of professional athletes wearing serious watches has been growing fast, and padel is now firmly in that conversation. Tapia joins a short list of padel players whose wrist game costs more than most people's cars.

From a pure performance tracking standpoint, an AP Royal Oak does exactly zero that a Garmin Fenix 7 or a Coros Pace 3 cannot do better. No GPS, no heart rate, no recovery metrics, no sleep tracking. A Whoop 4.0 or a Polar Vantage V3 will tell you more about your body in one training session than the Royal Oak will in a lifetime. But that is not the point here.

Audemars Piguet's entry into Premier Padel signals that the tour is now attracting sponsors who historically target tennis, Formula 1, and golf. That is a real milestone for the sport's commercial credibility. The partnership likely includes court-side branding, player ambassadors, and activations at the biggest events on the calendar.

Tapia wearing a 35,000-euro watch is a flex, plain and simple. It won't improve his bandeja or his lob. But it confirms that the top players in padel are now operating at a visibility level that luxury brands take seriously. Good for the sport.