Tennis News: Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios and Matteo Berrettini

After Novak Djokovic won the 2016 French Open, which meant at the time he had won the last four Grand Slams (though they were not all in the same calendar year), he threw his racket into the stands out of joy. He then through a heart in the Roland Garros clay and celebrated winning the tournament for the first time. He might have won the French Open many times except for the existence of Rafael Nadal.

The racket Novak Djokovic threw into the crowd was caught by a person named Abby and Abby ended up putting the racket in her closet for six years. What might I have done with the racket? Likely make sure it never feels the air again and get it enclosed in glass like the work of art it is. Recently, though, Abby put the racket up for auction.

The racket had a minimum bid through SCP Auctions of $10,000. When the part of the auction was done involving the racket, however, Djokovic’s tool had sold for a record $107,482. I am not sure how much of that amount Abby got, but likely she won’t have to worry about groceries for some time.

A Novak Djokovic racket brings in quite a bit of money at auction

In other tennis news, Nick Kyrgios is expected to return for the Australian Open, but it is unclear whether he will be at the tournament to play or do something else. According to Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley, any update on Nick Kyrgios is “day-by-day” but he does expect Kyrgios to be at the Australian Open. Maybe, such as during the ATP Finals, Kyrgios will simply be a broadcast commentator on the event.

Kyrgios can be a pretty divisive figure in tennis, but he was really good during the Tennis Channel’s ATP Finals broadcast. Let’s have more of that.

In the last bit of tennis news for this article, Italian Matteo Berrettini did not have the best of years. He only played in 23 ATP-sponsored matches in 2023 going just 12-11 in those matches. He was oft-injured and in poor form, but because we live in a weird world many fans on social media blamed his new girlfriend, Melissa Satta, for Berrettini’s performance.

OK, a couple of things to unpack here. First of all, being in a relationship with someone doesn’t mean a tennis player gets hurt more often. That is ridiculous. Secondly, maybe Berrettini simply is not as good as we thought a couple of years ago and that is OK.