A shirt worn by Rafael Nadal to win the 2005 French Open at the Stade Roland Garros has been auctioned for just short of $114,000.
Nadal has been back at the courts, his favourite venue, this month for the Paris Olympics. There was no fairytale ending for Rafa on the surface where he has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.
He left the singles after a defeat to Novak Djokovic. His doubles journey – alongside Carlos Alcaraz – ended at the quarter-final stage, losing to an American pair.
Nadal has won two Olympics medals.
This shirt takes fans back to Nadal’s early career, and his first French Open title.
The Nike green, sleeveless T-shirt was on sale from July 7 in a sale that closed on August 4.
This is one of the biggest sales of tennis clothing.
Rafa battling his way to victory in the green t-shirt.
A Roger Federer shirt from the 2009 French Open (the sole year he won) raised £95,000. Last year, Prestige Auctions, who also sold the Nadal shirt, realised $35,000 for another Federer match-worn outfit from the 2018 Australian Open.
Tennis is a collectible sport, and it’s a game of individual heroes.
The age of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic is coming to an end on court, and moving into the auction room.
The Roger Federer Collection was sold by Christie’s in 2021 for nearly £3.5 million in London, tripling its pre-sale low estimate.
The star power of Nadal is obvious, and the timing – coming as his Olympics swan song played out – is perfect.
The same sale saw $20,000 paid for a Carlos Alcaraz racquet and over $5,000 for a Ken Rosewall trophy won as runner up in the 1955 US Open, a great illustration of how recency and name recognition power this market.
