Sebastian Korda and Grigor Dimitrov suffer same fate with expensive watches

Ahead of his first match at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Sebastian Korda was seemingly walking the streets of the pretty city with expensive tastes and had two people on motorbikes approach him and steal his watch. The key thing throughout this entire article is that Korda was not injured and neither was Grigor Dimitrov (but more on that in just a minute). Plus, if anyone wonders why anyone would simply take Korda's watch and nothing else, well there is a reason for that too.

Korda was wearing a Richard Mille timepiece (the correct word for a watch valued at so much money, one would assume) that was worth in excess of 300,000 Euros. That roughly translates to $320,000. Hopefully, the watch was insured. The whole ordeal with Korda happened in the middle of the day which means the police force in Monte-Carlo must not be very good as criminals are not afraid of the force.

Having watches stolen is not new for tennis players, unfortunately. Grigor Dimitrov was playing in Barcelona in 2023 and had his timepiece stolen off his arm as well. The difference was Dimitrov was driving his car, had his side mirror hit (intentionally) and as he was readjusting the mirror, the same person who had hit the car also took Dimitrov's watch. Dimitrov was wearing a Rolex watch that looked a lot like Korda's, coincidentally.

Sebastian Korda and Grigor Dimitrov share the same experience

Again, in neither case was the player injured and one can assume that the thief simply took the watch and sold it. Since both of these incidents took place involving a motorbike, travelers, and players can also assume there is a trend. The point is not to wear the timepieces, one might assume.

Korda was able to overcome the incident and actually win his first match at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Dimitrov had to take to Instagram to squelch any concern over his well-being. He was fine. Ironically, Dimitrov also won his first match after being accosted.

Timepieces and jewelry have always been an important part of tennis because, unlike collision sports, a tennis player can be seen wearing whatever their sponsors want them to wear as they are playing a match. This is like free (sort of) advertising. That makes sense for the sponsor and player. That does not mean it is OK for some thief to take an expensive watch from the player, however. Maybe the people should have upgraded their motorbikes for something they really wanted.

More tennis news and analysis