Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continue to prove that they are two of the most influential personalities in the tennis world. Despite Federer not playing the sport anymore and Nadal being on the verge of hanging his boots, the two legends’ merchandise still sells like hot cakes.
Nadal witnessed one of his merchandise sell for a record price for match-worn tennis shirts in an auction recently. According to Prestige Memorabilia, Nadal’s iconic green kit from the French Open 2005 title run has been sold for $113,924.
Apart from becoming the first piece in its category to cross the $100,000 mark in an auction, the sleeveless Nike torso also eclipsed the previous highest product – Federer’s t-shirt from the French Open 2009 title run – by more than $18,000, per Tennis.com.
The Roland Garros 2005 is often regarded as the most memorable tournament in the Raging Bull’s career. The win marked the first out of his 22 Grand Slam titles (14 French Open titles).
But this isn’t the only Nadal memorabilia to sell for an absurd amount. Earlier in the year, Nadal’s championship point-winning racket from the French Open 2007 finals against Roger Federer sold for a price of $118,026.
“It became the third most valuable tennis racket behind Nadal’s 2022 Australian Open racket auctioned at $139,700 and Billie Jean King’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’ racket sold for $125,000,” an article read.
With the astonishing price at which the racket and the torse sold, it is evident that Nadal’s French Open success is regarded as the most dominant run across all sports. His 14 title wins at Roland Garros is a record which is set to remain intact in the future.
How Nadal trumped Djokovic in the memorabilia department as well
While it is quite an achievement to be more valued than Federer in some way, Nadal also beat Djokovic when it comes to their iconic racquets being auctioned. Nadal’s 2007 Roland Garros racket was sold after Djokovic’s 2016 title winning racquet at the same Grand Slam.
Last year, the Serb’s prized possession went for $107,482, which was impressive. However, it seems that many memorabilia enthusiasts consider Nadal’s achievements much bigger.
Apart from the French Open win, Nadal’s racket from the 2022 Australian Open title victory also went at an auction for $139,700, which is the highest so far for any tennis racket being auctioned in the world.
It remains to be seen if Djokovic can top that, which is very likely since he won the Olympics at Roland Garros. With Djokovic’s post on the same on Instagram receiving the most number of likes for any tennis social media post in history, the former World No.1 might not be far away from creating history in the memorabilia department too in the future.
