So, I was watching some tennis the other day, saw Tommy Paul playing. Good player. But what caught my eye, maybe like a lot of folks, was the watch he had on. You know, you see these athletes, they always have some gear that stands out.
Naturally, I got curious. What is that thing? Looked kinda rugged, different. So, I did what anyone does, I guess. Pulled out my phone, started searching around. Typed in stuff like “tommy paul watch during match” and whatnot. Took a bit of digging, scrolling through fan forums and articles.
Found out what it likely was. And then I saw the usual stuff associated with it – the brand, the price tag. And yeah, it wasn’t exactly cheap. Like, really not cheap. For a watch he’s sweating all over while smacking a tennis ball. Made me chuckle a bit, honestly.
That whole thing reminded me…
It threw me back to when I was younger, maybe late teens or early twenties. There was this specific bike frame I became obsessed with. Absolutely obsessed. It wasn’t even top-of-the-line, but it was the one all the cool local riders seemed to have, or the one featured in this one grainy photo I saw in a zine.
I spent months thinking about it.
- Scouring old forums online.
- Checking classifieds constantly.
- Saving up every penny I could scrape together from my awful part-time job.
- Even tried finding broken ones hoping I could fix it up.
It was all I talked about for a while. Drove my friends nuts, probably. My focus was just zeroed in on getting this thing.
And eventually, after way too much effort, I found one second-hand. Paid more than I should have. Got it home, built it up. Felt like a massive achievement. For about a week.
Rode it a few times. It was… fine? Definitely not magical. Wasn’t suddenly a better rider. It was just a bike frame. Within a few months, something else caught my eye, and that frame ended up leaning against the wall in the garage, gathering dust. Sold it later for a loss, of course.
So, seeing the fuss about Paul’s watch, or any athlete’s fancy gear, just brings back that memory. It looks cool on him, sure. Part of the image, part of the game, I get it. But chasing after those shiny things? Man, it can be exhausting. And half the time, you get it and the magic just isn’t there. You realize the wanting it was way more intense than the having it.
These days, I try to keep that in mind. My old watch tells the time just fine. Doesn’t win me any tennis matches, but hey, neither would Tommy Paul’s watch on my wrist. Funny how you learn things, isn’t it?
