Presented is Carlos Alcaraz's match used, signed racket which he used during his breakthrough tournament at the 2022 Madrid Masters.
An 18-year old Carlos Alcaraz entered the 2022 Madrid Masters as a highly prospective #9 ranked player, and left as a 19-year old star. A day after his 19th birthday, Alcaraz achieved his only ever victory against his idol Rafael Nadal in the Quarterfinal. The following day he played world #1 Novak Djokovic for the first time, and became the youngest player to defeat a world #1 since 2004. In the Final Alcaraz beat world #3 and defending champion Alexander Zverev, completing victories against the top 3 seeds in succession. This win propelled him to a career high world #6, and made him the youngest champion in the history of Madrid. Alcaraz was also now the only player to ever beat Nadal and Djokovic on clay in the same tournament. The tournament was Alcaraz’s 5th title ever, making him the youngest to achieve that many since Rafael Nadal in 2005. Reflecting on the tournament, Alcaraz said "It feels great to be able to beat these players. To beat two of the best players in history, and then Zverev, the World No. 3. He is a great player. I would say this is the best week of my life." (https://www.atptour.com/en/news/alcaraz-madrid-2022-lookback-uncovered)
The racket is accompanied by the most coveted Resolution Photomatch documentation, who have made conclusive matches to Alcaraz's Madrid Final match against Zverev and to his match at the French Open weeks later. Resolution determined a likely match to Alcaraz's historic victory against Nadal. Two photos of Alcaraz signing the racket are included as well.
As can be seen in the Resolution Photomatch graphic, there is a unique white mark on the frame. It can also be seen in the photo of Alcaraz signing the racket. Resolution Photomatching used this and several other unique characteristics to determine their photomatches, including a likely match to Alcaraz’s only career win against Nadal on May 6th, 2022. Looking at the video of Alcaraz celebrating match point, the white mark can be seen at 3:44, which makes us confident that Alcaraz used this racket to win the match point in that historic match.
The racket has a stringing sticker from the French Open reading “25 / 23kg 5/29/22” as well as a Babolat customization label with his name.
This is the only known Alcaraz racket with photomatching to exist, and only ever Alcaraz photomatched racket to be auctioned. Carlos Alcaraz is outpacing the achievements of the greatest players of all time, and this racket marks the emergence of a star.