A recent auction generated Rafael Nadal’s racket in the 2007 French Open the highest-priced memorabilia in history so far.
Nadal’s finals-winning racket was sold for $118,000 on Monday. It was previously stored at the Australian Tennis Museum before the online auction.
Nadal used the racket to beat Swiss maestro Roger Federer, 6-3,4-6,6-4, in the final for his third Grand Slam title. The Spaniard went on to win 14 more titles at Roland Garros to raise his Grand Slam total to 20.
Click here for more tennis news and updates.
It was also the same racket in previous matches of that tournament, including a win over current world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
Prestige Memorabilia’s The Tennis Auction confirmed the racket was sold for $118,206.
Nadal’s 2022 Australian Open racket was recently sold for $139,700 along with Billie Jean King’s “Battle of the Sexes” racket ($125,000). Djokovic’s 2016 French Open racket, meanwhile, was sold for $107,482.
A small muscle tear forced Nadal to skip this year’s Australian Open won by Italian world No.4 Jannik Sinner. Nadal sustained the injury at the Brisbane International earlier this month.
The 37-year-old Mallorca native, however, is set to make his comeback at the ATP 250 tournament in Doha next month.
