Nov 6, 2024 - Nov 23, 2024
Last month, an emotional Rafael Nadal announced that he will retire at the end of the 2024 season. The 38-year-old Spaniard has struggled with injuries over the past few years, and for two decades he has fought through the incurable Mueller-Weiss syndrome in his foot. It truly is the end of an era. Who will ever match Rafa’s athleticism, perseverance, intensity, and desire to compete on the tennis court? We know one thing. No player will come close to equaling his 14 French Open titles and dominance on clay. His 22 Grand Slams overall are second only to Novak Djokovic’s 24 on the men’s all-time list.
Presented here is a Rafa Nadal match worn and autographed Nike shirt from the 2015 ATP fall season (October through November). It was sourced from a close acquaintance of Rafa's at the end of 2015. Nadal can be seen wearing this same Nike style black and light/sky blue colored shirt in match play during the following 2015 tournaments: China Open (Beijing, Oct. 5-11); Shanghai Rolex Masters (Oct. 11-18); Basel Swiss Indoors (Oct. 26 - Nov. 1); BNP Paribas Masters (Paris, Oct. 31 - Nov. 8); and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (London, Nov. 15-22).
The shirt shows evidence of being laundered multiple times, meaning it was likely worn in more than one match. The ATP World Tour Finals is the last ATP tournament of the season and features only the world's top eight ranked players. At the 2015 event held at the O2 Arena in London, fifth-ranked Nadal won his first three matches over #4 Stan Wawrinka, #2 Andy Murray and #5 David Ferrer, before bowing out to #1-ranked Djoker in the semifinals. For the 2015 season as a whole, Rafa went 61-20 with three titles.
The black and sky blue Nike player-exclusive shirt has a black Swoosh logo on the upper chest and Nadal’s “Raging Bull” logo in aqua on the right sleeve. A “Custom Athlete” tag hangs inside the rear collar and there is an additional "CUSTM" tag inside the lower left inseam with a Nike "HO 150307 SAC" manufacturer code. The shirt has tiny mesh holes for easy breathing displays plenty of wear with evidence of stretching and perspiration. Through his connections, our consignor was able to get Nadal to sign the front in bold black marker.
Includes LOA from PSA/DNA for the autograph and a letter of opinion from Sports Investors Authentication. (We did not request a photo-match search due to the uniformity of design making the probability of success relatively low. For an additional cost, it could be well with it.)
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