OPEN Tennis #2
242 x 330 mm, 140 pages
New York, US
Since 2024
Editorial director: David Shaftel
Creative director: David Bartholow
Art director: Larry Buchanan
Emerging from Racquet’s headline-making leadership split last year, OPEN Tennis is a new title helmed by former Racquet co-founder David Shaftel, which pointedly aims to ‘stop fetishizing the past, and get on with creating a new storyline’ for both a historically insular sport and—if reading between the (base)lines—tennis media at large.
A fresh departure from other tennis titles on our shelves with its large format (sizing up even further with this sophomore issue), it marries tennis with fashion, art, psychology, and slightly nerdy equipment deep cuts, while acknowledging the magazine is ‘still in the process of becoming what it wants to be.’
Reflecting on a chat with our own Jeremy Leslie for NYT back in 2018, this second issue brings together stories that capture a current moment in tennis culture: there’s the rise of the tennis influencer with Julius Gavin; a sweaty photo dispatch from the US Open; picks from Hobo magazine cofounder Mike Belgue; indie band Tennis’ final album; a detailed look at the ‘godfather’ of racquets; the fastest surfaces on tour; plus the science and aesthetics of left-handed players, with profiles on two feisty southpaws in Diana Schnaider and Yoshihito Nishioka.