This week, our editors recommend stories by Carla Ciccone, Lex Pryor, Bhavya Dore, Michelle Cyca, and Casey Lyons.
Tennis
Posted inEditor's Pick
Serena Williams Refused to Bend. She Bent Tennis Instead.
A stunner of an ode to Serena, who came into the game on the heels of her older sister, but leaves it having changed it irrevocably. An exacting portrait of an unprecedented competitor. Part of Serena’s genius—competitively, personally—is that she never can quite be anything but herself when she’s desperate. And she’s desperate every time […]
Posted inNonfiction, Sports, Story
Say Goodbye to Volleywood
Twenty-five years ago, tennis lost Saint Vitas.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Sports, Story, Unapologetic Women
Wimbledon: Where Women Wait
Women still aren’t treated equally at Wimbledon.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Serena Williams Poses Unretouched
To accompany her unretouched cover photo on the August, 2019 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, tennis star Serena Williams writes a moving personal essay about the harsh, sexist way she was penalized at the 2018 U.S. Open for defending herself to a judge, the apology she sent to her opponent that day, Naomi Osaka, and why […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Featured, Sports, Story, Uncategorized
An Audience of Athletes: The Rise and Fall of Feminist Sports
Billie Jean King once tried to find a sustainable business model for feminist sports coverage. Then women’s fitness tried to revive the swimsuit model.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Sports, Story
It’s Tennis, Charlie Brown
An obscure character was a stand-in for the creator of Peanuts when he fell in love with tennis during the sport’s boom in the 1970s.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Sports, Story
Benoit Paire, Tennis Solitaire
Thessaly La Force hangs out with the lonesome, racquet-smashing Frenchman.
Posted inBlog Post, Commentary, Nonfiction, Sports
Naomi Osaka Deserves to Have Her Moment
Much is being written about the contentious U.S. Open women’s final match, but this moment belongs to Naomi Osaka.
Posted inNonfiction, Sports, Story
Losers’ Lunch
Dining out with courtsiders, a rogue, impish species in the tennis ecosystem.