£7.99 – £12.99
A collection of the best essays from the first four years of Racquet, a magazine dedicated to the countercultural, underground and untold stories of tennis.
How should tennis smell? What’s the deal with Andre Agassi’s private jet? What can a professional tennis player learn from Philip Roth? Why is tennis important in Lolita? How was Arthur Ashe like Muhammad Ali? How did the Iowa Lawn Tennis Club come to be?
These are just some of questions answered in Racquet: The Book, as it breaks through the tightly controlled messaging of the athletes, the corporate glean of the major tournaments, and the all-white attire of the country-club scene to represent the latent, diverse, and large constituency of tennis that has not been embraced by the sport writ large.
Caitlin Thompson is the Publisher and co-founder of Racquet Magazine, and the host of “The Main Draw” and Racquet Magazine podcasts. She has been the Content Director for podcast platform Acast, a Development Executive at WNYC, where she ran the precursor to WNYC Studios, and held digital and multimedia roles at TIME, The Washington Post and in public television.
David Shaftel is the Editor and co-founder of Racquet magazine. As a feature writer, he has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The Financial Times and The Guardian.
“Racquet mag has that feeling of a Labor Of Love. In that way It reminds me of self printed xeroxed music fanzines from the 90s. But the layout, graphics, photography betray a sense of style, and a knowledge of magazines from the art/fashion realm. I like the cultish extreme vibe of Racquet — if tennis is your ‘kink’ you will relate to this mag.”
“I love Racquet‘s in-depth variety of stories across all elements of our sport.”
“Absolutely thrilling.”