The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Australian Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic holds the crown for the most Grand Slam men’s tennis titles and now holds the crown for the most expensive tennis memorabilia item ever sold publicly.
The tennis racket Djokovic used during the 2012 Australian Open final, when he beat Rafael Nadal in the longest Grand Slam final in history (five hours, 53 minutes), sold for $540,000 through SCP Auctions on Saturday night. SCP’s pre-auction estimate on it was $200,000-plus.
This sale occurred on the cusp of Djokovic’s 38th Grand Slam final, where he faced Carlos Alcaraz to conclude the 2026 Australian Open. Alcaraz went on to win, becoming the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam at 22 years old.
Novak Djokovic’s 2012 Australian Open final racket. (SCP Auctions)
The Djokovic racket passed an autographed Alcaraz trading card to become the highest-priced tennis item sold at auction. Alcaraz’s 2022 NetPro Premium one-of-one autographed rookie card with a Gem-Mint 10 grade from Professional Sports Authenticator sold for $237,907.32 through Goldin on June 28.
The previous all-time racket sale occurred in October when an Alcaraz racket used in the 2023 Wimbledon finals sold via auction for $173,000 through Prestige. The previous record for any Djokovic racket was for one used during his 2016 French Open final win over Andy Murray, which sold for $107,000 in November 2023 through SCP.
According to SCP, Djokovic’s racket has been professionally photomatched to championship point in the final as well as his semifinal match against Murray and quarterfinal match against David Ferrer. The racket was consigned by the man Djokovic gave it to following the 2012 final. In a letter of provenance shared on SCP’s website (but with the consignor’s name concealed), the man wrote that he had been seated in the front row with some companions, right behind Djokovic’s bench and cheered him on in French and English, which he said Djokovic acknowledged at several points during the match.
“When the final point was won and Novak Djokovic returned to his bench, the moment became deeply personal,” the letter reads. “As he approached us, he smiled, said “merci beaucoup”, and personally handed us his match winning racket, along with his torn match-winning T-shirt.”
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