A racquet Carlos Alcaraz used in the 2023 Wimbledon final sold at auction for $173,066 through Prestige Memorabilia, becoming the highest-priced tennis racquet ever sold at auction. The frame, a customized pro stock Babolat, was photomatched by Resolution to 10 dates, including the July 16 final, and still bore a stringing sticker from the 2023 Championships.

Bidding for the racquet sat at $74,008 until closing day on Sunday, October 19. A concentrated rush of bids in the final hours pushed the price to the winning figure of $173,066. The sale surpassed the prior auction record of $157,300 for a racquet Rafael Nadal used during his 2017 Roland Garros campaign; that racquet sold in June 2025, also through Prestige Memorabilia.

“We’re really excited to have brought such an incredible piece to market and are proud to have broken the record,” Matt Cashin said. Matt Cashin, founder of Prestige Memorabilia, noted how Alcaraz’s rise has affected collector interest.

“Carlos Alcaraz is bringing so much attention to this sport and that’s also being reflected with his collectible sales,” he added. “The tennis memorabilia space has been growing quickly over the last few years and Alcaraz’s rise has definitely accelerated that.”

The auction also featured other Alcaraz-used frames. A racquet he used at a 2019 ATP Challenger event, described as the earliest known Alcaraz-used frame to surface publicly and sourced from a coach who worked with Alcaraz in his developmental years, sold for $6,670. Among other notable lots was a Babolat racquet Rafael Nadal used en route to the 2011 Monte Carlo title; that item fetched $8,784 and was the second-highest ticketed sale in Prestige Memorabilia’s 2025 Fall Tennis Auction.

Alcaraz, then 20, captured his second Grand Slam at 2023 Wimbledon with a five-set victory over Novak Djokovic.

A racquet used by Carlos Alcaraz to win the 2023 Wimbledon title is on course to challenge the highest price ever paid for match-used tennis equipment.

The customized pro stock Babolat, signed on the grip and still showing the original Babolat customization sticker and a stringing sticker from the 2023 Championships, is listed at Prestige Memorabilia. The lot has been photomatched by Resolution to 10 separate dates, including the July 16 final and four other matches and practice sessions during the 2023 grass-court season.

“This is by far the most significant item to ever surface from Alcaraz’s young but already historic career, used in a match that many consider to be a generational turning point,” reads the lot description.

Alcaraz, 20, captured his second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2023, defeating Novak Djokovic, the four-time defending champion, in a five-set match, 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. The victory was widely seen as a changing-of-the-guard moment: it was the first time since 2002 that a Grand Slam’s top seed and eventual champion was not part of the Big Four, and it marked Djokovic’s first Centre Court loss in a decade.

The auction opened on September 30 and, with more than a week to run before the October 19 (9:00 p.m. EST) closing, has drawn 10 bids. The current high bid stands at $21,437 from a private bidder. Prestige Memorabilia is projecting the racquet could surpass the existing mark for a match-used racquet. That record was set in June when Rafael Nadal’s 2017 Roland Garros-winning racquet sold for just over $157,000. The Alcaraz racquet carries a pre-sale estimate of $200,000.

Alcaraz memorabilia has already moved the market in recent seasons: the ball from the championship point of the 2025 US Open men’s final sold for $88,900 at Sotheby’s in September, nearly ten times the previous auction record for a tennis ball.

A familiar tennis frame has been repurposed for zombie combat in the latest Dying Light entry. The Technifibre T-Fight 300 used by world No. 2 Iga Swiatek appears as an in-game easter egg in Dying Light: The Beast.

Players controlling protagonist Kyle Crane can discover a weapon called the “Legendary One-Handed Mace” while exploring the fogged paths of Castor Woods, a fictional rural tourist site in the Western Alps now overrun by zombies. The mace has been styled to resemble Swiatek’s custom racquet and bears the inscription, “Queen of the clay, killer on the grass.” That phrase alludes to her four Roland Garros titles and her recent Wimbledon triumph, where she defeated Amanda Anisimova in the final without losing a game.

Dying Light: The Beast is the fifth title in the Dying Light series and is produced by Polish developer Techland, which helps explain the subtle nod to the Polish champion. Screengrabs showing the weapon have circulated on social media and drew a response from the game’s creative team.

“Finally someone found it,” wrote franchise director Tymon Smektala in a post on X on Saturday .

The inclusion is a small cross-cultural detail that links a top-ranked player’s signature equipment to a horror-survival setting. It is presented purely as an easter egg within the game world rather than as a licensed sporting product. For players who notice the reference, the mace provides a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Swiatek’s success on both clay and grass while serving a practical purpose in the hands of Kyle Crane as he navigates an infected wilderness.