The exorbitant price for the golden racket that Nadal received in Riyadh

Even though it wasn’t an official tournament, last week’s Six Kings Slam was a significant event because we were able to witness it Rafa Nadal is competing for the penultimate time in his career.

The Spaniard, Winner of 22 Grand Slamswill retire next month after playing in the Davis Cup Final 8 with Spain. He was one of six players invited to take part in this year’s Six Kings Slam in Riyadh – an exhibition event and therefore not an ATP-sanctioned event, so players do not receive ranking points. He was joined by Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Yannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.

Nadal’s playing days are coming to an end

It was Rafa’s return to the court for his first games since his exit from the Paris Olympics. In Riyadh he lost his opener against Carlos Alcaraz (6-3 6-3) and the game for third place Novak Djokovic (6-2 7-6 [7-5]).

After losing to the Serb in straight sets, Rafa was honored by the organizers of the Six Kings Slama tournament taking place in a country where Nadal is highly respected as an ambassador for his tennis association.

Turki Al Sheikh, advisor to the Saudi royal court, organizer of sporting events such as this tennis exhibition and president of the Spanish football club Almería, took to the court to lead the tribute to the Mallorca-born star, now in the final stages of his career.

There, Nadal received a very noticeable gift: a gold-plated tennis racket as a thank you for all the successes he has achieved throughout his career. It later turned out that the gift weighs about three kilograms and, most importantly, its price: approximately $270,000.

An exorbitant sum that contributes to this Two million dollars that Rafa pocketed for taking part in the Six Kings Slam (Sinner, the winner, took home six million). And a well-deserved reward for a career as brilliant as the gold of his new racket.