For the first time since Rafael Nadal announced his retirement in October, one of his most valuable cards will hit the auction block at The Tennis Auction, with an estimate of $100,000.
The 2003 NetPro Elite 2000 rookie card, limited to 2,000 copies, is one of just two Nadal rookies to receive dual PSA 10 grades for its condition and autograph.
Selling most recently in May 2024 for $20,000, becoming the third most expensive Nadal card ever sold publicly, the upcoming sale will be a major test of the market for Nadal’s cards in the wake of the tennis legend's retirement — and whether it can achieve the lofty 5x multiple predicted by the auction house.
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Due to various factors — primarily driven by a lack of consistent product, modern star power and collector taste — tennis cards have never quite gotten their due among the mainstream collector community.
While there have been plenty of releases since, including limited-edition autograph productions from Leaf and a recent effort from Topps, one set remains the pinnacle of modern tennis card collecting: The 2003 NetPro set.
Prior to 2003, the last major release came in 1992, when NetPro produced a set featuring rookie cards for players such as Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. With no tennis sets to fill the intervening time, all the players who made their debut from 1992-2003 received their rookie cards in the 2003 set.
The result is the set lays claim to the rookie cards of Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and more. However, unlike Williams and Federer, who signed autograph contracts with NetPro, Nadal abstained, meaning he had zero pack-pulled autographs available.
Autographed cards from Federer and Williams have fetched record prices in recent years, with both players’ most expensive card featuring signatures ($181,200 and $266,400, respectively). By contrast, Nadal’s top sale is just $25,000.
"This is the rarest and most valuable Rafael Nadal Rookie Card there is," reads the lot description.
The auction house set a record for any tennis shirt sold publicly during its last auction, when it sold Nadal’s shirt from the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the 2005 French Open for nearly $114,000.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.