What do you think when a former tennis player sells/destroys his trophies?

[Enceladus]

News broke this week that Ken Rosewall will auction off his tennis trophies. Andy Roddick threw almost all of his trophies in the trash a several years ago. Boris Becker sold his trophies due to financial problems. Bjorn Borg also considered selling his Wimbledon trophies and several rackets, also due to the financial situation, but later changed his mind.

IMO it seems insanely to get rid of your trophies unless the tennis players are struggling financially, which is the example of Becker and Borg. I don't like what Roddick did with his trophies or what Rosewall is going to do. Tennis players should respect their trophies and if they don't want to keep them at home, it's better to lend them to a sports museums, there are certainly a lot of them on the West. Sale or destruction of trophies is actually a disrespect to the tournaments that the tennis player in question won. Maybe I'm being too strict about this, so I'd be interested in other TTW members' opinions on this topic.

 

[esgee48]

The property is owned by the player and as such, it is within their rights to dispose of as they wish. You are entitled to your opinion, but you have no legal claim as to how they can handle their property. If they decided to give it away to an organization, ie IHOF, would it make you any assertive?

 

[Hawks9451]

I'd auction off my blood if it was worth more. Trophies aren't sacred, and Roddick's Zen maneuver indicates as much.

 

[JoshDragon]

News broke this week that Ken Rosewall will auction off his tennis trophies. Andy Roddick threw almost all of his trophies in the trash a several years ago. Boris Becker sold his trophies due to financial problems. Bjorn Borg also considered selling his Wimbledon trophies and several rackets, also due to the financial situation, but later changed his mind.

IMO it seems insanely to get rid of your trophies unless the tennis players are struggling financially, which is the example of Becker and Borg. I don't like what Roddick did with his trophies or what Rosewall is going to do. Tennis players should respect their trophies and if they don't want to keep them at home, it's better to lend them to a sports museums, there are certainly a lot of them on the West. Sale or destruction of trophies is actually a disrespect to the tournaments that the tennis player in question won. Maybe I'm being too strict about this, so I'd be interested in other TTW members' opinions on this topic.

In the case of Ken Rosewall he played back during a time when the players weren't paid for winning grand slam titles.

He is approaching his ninetieth birthday. I don't blame him for deciding to sell off his trophies.

That's his choice.

And the tournaments have certainly disrespected some of the players over the years (E.G. Wimbledon's 2022 Russian ban and the 1973 Wimbledon boycott.)

 

[WYK]

Roddick's trophies are in the annals of history.
Mine are mostly on a shelf.

 

[Enceladus]

The property is owned by the player and as such, it is within their rights to dispose of as they wish. You are entitled to your opinion, but you have no legal claim as to how they can handle their property. If they decided to give it away to an organization, ie IHOF, would it make you any assertive?

Donating trophies to THOF is definitely a better move than breaking them up and throwing them in the trash. Destruction of the trophies is a terrible disrespect to the work of the artists who created the trophies.

 

[alexio]

i dont like it

 

[struggle]

I don't think about it.

It's just stuff.

However, seems like random thrift stores would be a fun place to put them, instead of the landfill in bulk.

 

[ichaseballs]

this is assuming you have enough trophies to sell... a lot of players never get one

 

[PURETENNISsense]

random thrift stores would be a fun place to put them, instead of the landfill in bulk

Imagine a kid finding a US open Roddick trophy at goodwill haha what a story that would be. National headlines!

 

[HBK4life]

I don’t care if they sell them or whatever. They can’t take them into death.

 

[struggle]

Imagine a kid finding a US open Roddick trophy at goodwill haha what a story that would be. National headlines!

Well......there is only one.

 

[ichaseballs]

Imagine a kid finding a US open Roddick trophy at goodwill haha what a story that would be. National headlines!

thats the only one roddick kept

 

[ichaseballs]

think about djoker's closet of trophies. must be getting ridiculous

 

[struggle]

I'd guess Djokovic rolls around in bed with his trophies.

 

[Musterrific]

My gut reaction is that it's disrespectful to the very thing that allowed them to live privileged lives.

 

[thrust]

News broke this week that Ken Rosewall will auction off his tennis trophies. Andy Roddick threw almost all of his trophies in the trash a several years ago. Boris Becker sold his trophies due to financial problems. Bjorn Borg also considered selling his Wimbledon trophies and several rackets, also due to the financial situation, but later changed his mind.

IMO it seems insanely to get rid of your trophies unless the tennis players are struggling financially, which is the example of Becker and Borg. I don't like what Roddick did with his trophies or what Rosewall is going to do. Tennis players should respect their trophies and if they don't want to keep them at home, it's better to lend them to a sports museums, there are certainly a lot of them on the West. Sale or destruction of trophies is actually a disrespect to the tournaments that the tennis player in question won. Maybe I'm being too strict about this, so I'd be interested in other TTW members' opinions on this topic.

Rosewall will be 89 in early November, so has enjoyed his trophies for a very long time. Perhaps his sons and grandchildren are not interested in keeping them so Ken decided to sell them and give them the money instedad. Also, perhaps due to his 3 million dollar fine, he needs the money? Hopefully, that is not the case. Somehow, I doubt Roddick threw his trophies away, especially the USO, the only slam he ever won. Borg and Becker had serious financial problems when they either thought of or sold any of their trophies.

 

[thrust]

I'd guess Djokovic rolls around in bed with his trophies.

LOL! It seems that many of Novak's trophies are in his parents home, as she showed them off to an interviewer on Serbian TV. Margret Court also showed off her slam trophies to a TV interviewer some years ago. She told him she hadn't looked at them for years before that day.

 

[struggle]

Tragic Story of Butkus: The Dog Sylvester Stallone Was Forced to Sell Before ‘Rocky’

Sylvester Stallone introduced his doggy Butkus in Rocky 1. But before the movie became a hit, he had to sell his doggy for $25 due to poverty

www.essentiallysports.com

 

[urban]

Of course, those trophies are not the originals, which are kept by the respective Clubs or Federations, but much smaller replicas. This is different to the old times, when you could "retire" and keep the original trophy, by winning it three times running. The good old William Tatum II. did that quite often. He retired for good 2 of the original US trophies, when he won 6 years running the US Nationals (7 overall), which is still an unbeaten record. This may be the saddest story of them all. He had to sell all those original trophies at the end of his life, simply to survive and get something to eat. He had spent all the extraordinary money, he had made, on gambling and other things, and lived in poverty and stigmatisation after his prison time until his death.

Besides: There are of course some fine museums of Tennis, at Wimbledon or the Newport Casino (which is covered by a new fine book Tennis at Newport) or at Roland Garros, where significant items and memorabilia are kept. It would be good, if many of the auctioned memorabilia could be saved there. Most have some historical significance, but no great material, aesthetical or financial worth, maybe you can eat some salad out of those bowls or use them as a door stopper. The exception was an auction for the late Arthur Ashe. He had won on the WCT Tour 1975, a ball out of pure, massive gold. That was really something of worth.

 

[Waves]

Good idea. Sell that crap, get a few bucks, move along…otherwise their kids/loved ones will have to deal with all the junk…some of us have been there, done that. It’s not pretty.

 

[PURETENNISsense]

3 million dollar fine,

I live under a rock..... what??? How did he manage to get this?

 

[PURETENNISsense]

thats the only one roddick kept

He should also keep the one where he had the diving matchpoint against Raonic in Memphis.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Why did Andy throw his away?

 

[TheNachoMan]

 

[thrust]

I live under a rock..... what??? How did he manage to get this?

Someone here stated that Ken loaned his son's company 3.3 million dollars to try to save the company. Then, Ken was given his money back due to a settlement. However, Ken was forced to give back the money to pay back the people who were victims of Ken's son's company. Perhaps Ken was not actually fined but lost the 3.3 million dollars he loaned his son's company.

 

[Mustard]

Up to them. Most people would choose money over trophies, especially if they were from eras when there wasn't all that much prize money or sponsorship money.

 

[BeatlesFan]

News broke this week that Ken Rosewall will auction off his tennis trophies. Andy Roddick threw almost all of his trophies in the trash a several years ago. Boris Becker sold his trophies due to financial problems. Bjorn Borg also considered selling his Wimbledon trophies and several rackets, also due to the financial situation, but later changed his mind.

You forgot about Pete back in 2010. Though he didn't sell or destroy his trophies, he kept them in a cheap storage facility and they were stolen- this made big news in southern California when it happened.

"Pete Sampras has revealed that most of his trophies and other memorabilia have been stolen from a West Los Angeles public storage facility. Sampras only lost one of his 14 grand slam trophies, but thieves took most of the prizes from his 64 tour title wins, two Davis Cups, an Olympic ring and six trophies for finishing world No1 in the year-end rankings from 1993 to 1998."

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/dec/08/pete-sampras-thieves-tennis-trophies

 

[bigbadboaz]

It is very possible to respect the sport and the work/time put into it, while not caring much about a bunch of physical trinkets accrued while putting in that work.

 

[Dan Lobb]

Someone here stated that Ken loaned his son's company 3.3 million dollars to try to save the company. Then, Ken was given his money back due to a settlement. However, Ken was forced to give back the money to pay back the people who were victims of Ken's son's company. Perhaps Ken was not actually fined but lost the 3.3 million dollars he loaned his son's company.

I think that he was ordered to repay the 3 million...that is not always easy to do for anyone.
The timing of Ken's sale suggests that there may be some relationship.

 

[BTURNER]

When I first heard of this happening (Becker maybe?), I was shocked and deeply saddened by the thought. That was a long time ago, and I am a lot older, and less nostagic. I don't keep 'keepsakes' anymore. I take a picture of them for an album, and get rid of the clunky space taking dust accruing 'things'..

 

[Dan Lobb]

When I first heard of this happening (Becker maybe?), I was shocked and deeply saddened by the thought. That was a long time ago, and I am a lot older, and less nostagic. I don't keep 'keepsakes' anymore. I take a picture of them for an album, and get rid of the clunky space taking dust accruing 'things'..

How many Wimbledon trophies did you win?

 

[BGod]

The irony of the website advertising the auction being "invaluable".

Anywho he's 88 with 2 sons and I think 3 grandkids. There was something about a failed stockbroker's firm so maybe that has something to o with it.

Would love to meet him before he passes.