Rafael Nadal may have won his seventh career French Open on Monday, but he had to deal with a couple of complications along the way. For starters, there was the shiner he got when he accidentally dinged himself in the cheek with the tournament trophy. That was nothing. According to Reuters, a watch worth $370,000 went missing from Nadal’s hotel room in the hours after his victory.
The Spaniard was wearing the Richard Mille watch after he defeated Novak Djokovic in the grand slam final on Monday but found it missing when he woke up on Tuesday, the player’s relatives told the police.
“Nobody broke into the hotel room,” the police source said. Richard Mille had lent Nadal the watch for the tournament. ($1 = 0.8028 euros)
Believe it or not, this is not the first time this has happened to Nadal. As Busted Racquet mentioned, Nadal endorses luxury watchmaker Richard Mille and had a timepiece go missing during a tournament in Toronto in 2010. He often wears the RM 027 Tourbillion during matches. The watches are lent to him, which could help explain why he doesn’t watch them like a hawk.
There are few things that are worth $370,000 that are easier to steal than a wristwatch. You could try to take a Lamborghini if you were looking for a six-figure possession, but you can’t exactly stuff a Gallardo in your pocket and make off with it. If Rafa isn’t going to keep a close eye on his watches, perhaps the people who lend them to him should hire someone to do so.
UPDATE: The watch has been recovered and police arrested a hotel employee who has believed to have stolen it.
Photo credit: Susan Mullane-US PRESSWIRE
