Serena Williams has already won six Grand Slam singles titles when she entered the 2005 Wimbledon tournament. Of her six Grand Slam singles’ victories at that point, Serena was already a two-time Wimbledon champ and was the No. 4 seed in the 2005 event.

In Serena’s first round match of the 2005 Wimbledon, she was pitted against fellow American Angela Haynes. Despite being the overwhelming favorite, Serena struggled in her first set, losing not only the set 6-7 (12-14 in the tiebreaker), but also losing her temper – smashing this offered tennis racket.

Serena famously lost her temper with a match official following her smashing of her racket in frustration at the 2018 US Open that resulted in her being penalized by being docked a game in a set. 13 years earlier in 2005, Williams did the same thing, but was not penalized. This racket was made by Wilson and has a silver frame. “WILSON” is painted white on the outside connectors of the frame and handle the string has the red Wilson logo painted in. The racket has been broken on the upper right side and cracked on the upper left. The frame on the right has collapsed into the string. The handle is white and Serena has signed her name in orange marker. Serena would recover from her first set loss to defeat Haynes 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the next round. A great prime of her career game used racket from women’s tennis’ all-time great player. This comes with a LOA from Sports Investors Authentication (200117F2), who have photo matched this racket to the 2005 Wimbledon. There is also a LOA from Beckett Authentication for the signature.        

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