Carlos Alcaraz halts Queen’s trophy presentation after blunder that could have left sponsor furious

Carlos Alcaraz stopped his trophy presentation in the middle of taking photos after forgetting to put on his Rolex.

The Spaniard regained his crown at Queen's when he beat Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 on the grass courts of west London.

It was an 18th straight victory for the 22-year-old, and a fifth successive final which included the French Open title, as he goes into Wimbledon in red-hot form.

However, he was in the middle of having his picture taken by the assembled photographers when he realised his mistake.

Alcaraz put the giant Queen's trophy down and dashed to his bag and could be seen putting on his watch.

He then resumed taking photographs, making sure that the timepiece was on full display.

The watch in question was a Rolex Daytona yellow gold with turquoise blue lacquer dial, worth in the region of £32,000.

Alcaraz has been a Rolex ambassador since 2021 and reports suggest the deal could be worth as much as £6m annually.

As part of many of these sponsorship agreements, players will wear their watches in presentation photos.

Rolex may not have been best pleased if he had forgotten to do so.

A similar thing happened to Andy Murray when he won the US Open in 2012.

He misplaced his Rado watch and panicked as he searched through his bag trying to find it before it eventually appeared.

For Alcaraz, he will turn his attention to Wimbledon where he will no doubt be the favourite to win a third straight title.

"It's really special, this trophy and this tournament. I'm happy to lift this trophy once again," he said after beating Lehecka.

"Jiri, you had an incredible week and it's a nightmare to play against you. Great week, great job and keep it up for Wimbledon.

"It has been an incredible week. I came without expectations and just wanted to play good tennis and to get used to the grass."

He continued: “I came without expectations at all. Just to play good tennis, trying to be as ready as possible for the grass.

"I have to say thank you for my team for the whole week. I am lucky to have my family, a lot of friends here that made me feel really comfortable on and off court. Without them it wouldn’t be possible.