Federer Match-worn Outfit Expected to Fetch $35,000 at Auction

FILE - Switzerland's Roger Federer hits a forehand to Croatia's Marin Cilic during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
FILE - Switzerland's Roger Federer hits a forehand to Croatia's Marin Cilic during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
TT

Federer Match-worn Outfit Expected to Fetch $35,000 at Auction

FILE - Switzerland's Roger Federer hits a forehand to Croatia's Marin Cilic during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
FILE - Switzerland's Roger Federer hits a forehand to Croatia's Marin Cilic during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

Looking for an "inexpensive” way into the lucrative sports memorabilia market? One of Roger Federer's match-worn outfits might be your ticket.
Not just any shirt and shorts, of course. An online auction that started Wednesday is offering a Federer outfit from his winning run at the 2018 Australian Open. That was his 20th and final Grand Slam title.
The Nike-made outfit is “expected to achieve up to $35,000,” Prestige Memorabilia said. Both items are signed by the Swiss great, who retired one year ago. Bidding closes Oct. 8, The Associated Press reported.
A mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million in August 2022. That broke a record for the most expensive auctioned piece of sports memorabilia set a few months earlier, when the shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the controversial “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup went for $9.3 million.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
TT

‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.