Racquet

Get ready to get dirty! Spring is here, and so is Racquet No. 22, in which we celebrate clay court tennis. Inside, we take a deep dive—or should we say dig—into our favorite playing surface. We visit clay manufacturers in Charlottesville, VA and Buenos Aires and view the majestic Monte Carlo Country club from the sky. Keeping with the terra battue, we finally answer the question: Just who exactly was Roland Garros? In this issue we also profile American star Michael Mmoh and the “Little Maestro” of the Philippines Felicisimo Ampon, and cover the Austin Open as only we can. Finally, we offer two fantastic excerpts from new books by Robert Lopez and Janet Malcolm. The cover features the painting “Down the Line” by the British artist Charlotte Keates, whose work is also presented inside. 

Can you believe it? Our 21st issue is here, with none other than future star Qinwen Zheng gracing the cover, photographed in San Diego by Sue Kwon. In this wintry issue, we muse on blazing sun, and visit remote Groote Eyelandt in Australia. We also meet the man who made tennis racquets modern, as well as a man who makes tennis racquets out of paper mache. We tackle Serena’s retirement, Racquet-style as well as implore—beg!—some of our favorite sportswear brands to embrace pro tennis. And, at long last, we are finally releasing our first ever tennis-themed crossword puzzle (pencil not included).

We’re back from Wimbledon and ready to announce Racquet No. 20, our ode to the public courts, featuring a cover by former graffiti artist Timothy Curtis, check-ins at the public courts of LA and New York, deep dives into tennis skirts, racchette, and those funny colored tennis balls. The issue also includes profiles of Ivan Lendl, Iga Swiatek’s sports psychologist, Freeway Rick Ross and the first Indigenous American dentist (who also happens to be a tennis fanatic). Don’t forget your Parks Dept. permit!

Racquet is back with treatises on heavy metal, poetry, photography, fashion, aviation, tattoo culture, and ashrams, as well as a profile of underappreciated great Pancho Gonzales and, finally, the return of tennis-themed fiction.

PREORDER This very special issue of Racquet is guest edited by one of our favorite voices in tennis and the world: Naomi Osaka. It features a profile of Naomi by Thessaly La Force, a deep dive into Naomi’s fashion philosophy by Jessica Iredale, Kenji Hall on how Naomi’s political activism is perceived in Japan and a look at tennis themes in Japanese animation. There are also conversations between Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Takashi Murakami and the artists Honor Titus and Mari Osaka. We also travel to Haiti for a look at tennis culture there and for a profile of Ronald Agenor, the most decorated player to fly the Haitian Flag. For the cover, Naomi commissioned Wellbeing, a painting by the Nigerian visual artist Dennis Osadebe.