A LUCKY tennis fan is set make a smashing profit after a tennis racket she caught at Djokovic’s first Wimbledon final was valued at £15,000.
Cordelia McKechnie, 51, caught the black and white Head tennis racket when Novak Djokovic celebrated his big win at the tournament.
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He beat rival Rafael Nadal during the All-England final on July 3, 2011.
Cordelia, an NHS Ophthalmologist from Hertfordshire, already thought her luck had come in after winning tickets to the men’s final of the world-famous championship in the ticket ballot – so was stunned when the new World Champion threw his racket in her direction.
“I couldn’t believe my luck when I won the tickets through the ballot, especially when I discovered the seats were opposite the umpire during the final!” she said.
“I was taking a picture of Djokovic at the time, when I heard this massive roar – I saw the racket coming towards me and dropped my camera and managed to catch the tennis racket out of about five other people.
“I couldn’t believe the moment had happened – it was such a surprise!”
The legendary racket is a black and white Head model, which has Novak printed inside the throat and will be up for sale at Graham Budd Auctions’ sports memorabilia event on September 5 and 6.
Until now Cordelia has kept good care of the amazing catch, but decided it was the right time to finally sell with the hope of Djokovic’s eighth Wimbledon final on the horizon.
Much to the keen tennis player’s shock, it has been valued at between £10,000 and £15,000.
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“I imagined that the price would have gone up over the years considering Djokovic’s rise to success but I never dreamt it would be valued that high,” Cordelia said.
The mum-of-two, who has never sold anything at auction before and does not collect sports memorabilia, plans to give some of the cash to local charities working with kids in her area if the racket sells.
The racket will be catalogued alongside other amazing sporting memorabilia going under the hammer.
Jonny Wilkinson’s final shirt that he wore during the first half of the 2003 Rugby World Cup has an estimated price tag of £40,000-£60,000.
Sandy Carmichael’s match-worn shirt from the ‘Try of the Century match’, where Barbarians faced All Blacks in 1973 is estimated to fetch £12,000-18,000.
Adam Gascoigne, boss of Graham Budd Auctions, said items like the racket – which you can pin down to a specific historical moment – are top sellers at auction.
“Djokovic ended up being a complete legend of the game, so to have this racket is unbelievable,” he said.
“The fact Cordelia was chuffed to be at the game in the first place after winning tickets in the ballot is fantastic.
“Sports fans and collectors want to be a part of that moment, so having a story like this to go alongside the item adds to its value.”
Memorable moments
While we can’t all expect to catch a winning tennis pro’s racket at the end of the match, Adam says there are opportunities for sports fans to get their hands on incredible items from home.
“We see a lot of items that have been won in competitions,” Adam explains.
“For example we sold a ball from last year’s World Cup Final, which was won by someone in an Adidas competition.
“We sold that for just over £170,000!”
Adam advises anything match-worn from a historical moment can also be of great value.
“There’s obviously a lot of due diligence that goes into verifying these items, but getting your hands on a piece of history like that is incredible!” he says.
