Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon final racket set to break Rafa Nadal auction record
The racket used by Carlos Alcaraz in his 2023 Wimbledon final victory over Novak Djokovic looks set to beat the record amount paid at an auction for a tennis item.
Alcaraz had the custom-made Babolat in his hands when he came back from losing the first set 1-6 to beat Djokovic and seal his first Wimbledon title. In doing so, Alcaraz also prevented the Serbian from completing the Calendar Grand Slam.
Now, the signed racket is up for auction and with just under a week to go already has a bid of over $21,000, leading auctioneers Prestige Memorabilia to forecast that it will beat the current record set by a Nadal racket earlier this year.
Nadal’s racket used during the 2017 French Open – the year Nadal became the first man to win 10 titles at the same Slam – sold for $157,333.20 in June.
The auction house says the Alcaraz racket has been photo-matched to dates including the Wimbledon final and four other matches at that year’s tournament.
The racket was custom-made for Alcaraz and has a sticker reading “C. Alcaraz 2022-3 4.” On the strings, there is a sticker that reads: “Wimbledon 2023 Babolat Stringing Service 25.00 kg / 23.00 kg 14/07/2023.”
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Alcaraz was just 20 years old at the time of his Wimbledon win and by that point, already had two Grand Slam titles having won the US Open the previous year.
The Spaniard has gone on to add four more titles to his collection (two at the French Open, one at Wimbledon and one at the US Open) but said even back then how fast he felt his career was going.
“Everything’s going very fast,” Alcaraz said in 2022. “I’m achieving my dreams at breakneck speed. A lot of things are happening to me in a short space of time, but I’m working very hard for it.
“I’ve sacrificed certain things to be in my current position. This is how things have turned out and it’s wonderful. Achieving the dreams I’ve had since I was little, at 20 years of age.”
“I’m a guy who learns from his mistakes. When I do something wrong, I try to learn from it so that next time it doesn’t happen again.
“Before the match, I handled it differently, I prepared differently. I also approached the match from a different angle. I think that was how I was able to hold on and beat Djokovic. It really helped me, that kind of resistance is purely mental.”