Tennis (magazine)

History

The magazine was established in May 1965, published out of Chicago with a regional focus. Asher Birnbaum of Skokie, IL was the founder, editor and publisher. The tennis boom of the 1970s resulted in a rapid expansion of the magazine, both in scope and circulation. In addition to top tennis stars, celebrities like Johnny Carson and Farrah Fawcett appeared on the cover. It was owned by Golf Digest / Tennis Magazine and sold to the New York Times Company.

Miller Publishing bought the magazine in 1997 from The New York Times Company. It brought on two retired champions as part owners and contributors: first Chris Evert in 2000 then Pete Sampras in 2003. In the early 2010s the circulation was 600,000 subscriptions, the majority of which were purchased by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for its members.

In 2014, publisher and USTA board member Jeff Willams purchased controlling interest in Tennis Media Company, owner of the magazine and its offshoot website. In 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Tennis Channel, acquired Tennis Media Company for $8 million, seeking to build synergies between the properties.

Content

Aside from articles about the most recent events and most active players, the magazine also includes the recent ranking for both ATP and WTA, as well as brief summaries of the future tournaments, their participants and the past winners.

Chris Evert has her own personal section in the magazine—usually the first page—which is called "Chrissie's Page". Aside from Evert, other famous players and coaches also contribute to the magazine, Pete Sampras, Paul Annacone, former coach of Sampras, is the Senior Instruction Editor and Brad Gilbert, former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, is Touring Instruction Editor.

Greatest

"The 40 Greatest Players of the ''Tennis'' Era" (2005)==

In celebration of its 40th anniversary (1965–2005), Tennis published a series rating the 40 best players of those four decades.

1. USA Pete Sampras
2. CzechoslovakiaUSA Martina Navratilova
3. GER Steffi Graf
4. USA Chris Evert
5. SWE Björn Borg
6. AUS Margaret Court
7. USA Jimmy Connors
8. AUS Rod Laver
9. USA Billie Jean King
10. CzechoslovakiaUSA Ivan Lendl
11. USA John McEnroe
12. USA Andre Agassi
13. YUGFR YugoslaviaUSA Monica Seles
14. SWE Stefan Edberg
15. SWE Mats Wilander
16. AUS John Newcombe
17. USA Serena Williams
18. GER Boris Becker
19. SUI Roger Federer
20. AUS Ken Rosewall
21. AUS Roy Emerson
22. SUI Martina Hingis
23. AUS Evonne Goolagong
24. ARG Guillermo Vilas
25. USA Venus Williams
26. USA Jim Courier
27. ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
28. ROM Ilie Năstase
29. USA Lindsay Davenport
30. USA Arthur Ashe
31. BEL Justine Henin
32. USA Tracy Austin
33. CzechoslovakiaAUS Hana Mandlíková
34. AUS Lleyton Hewitt
35. USA Stan Smith
36. USA Jennifer Capriati
37. BRA Gustavo Kuerten
38. GBR Virginia Wade
39. AUS Patrick Rafter
40. ARG Gabriela Sabatini

"The 50 Greatest Players of the Open Era" (2018)

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Open Era in tennis (1968–2018), the magazine published a series rating the 50 best players of those five decades (25 men and 25 women).

• Active players are marked in boldface. Men :1. SUI Roger Federer :2. AUS Rod Laver :3. ESP Rafael Nadal :4. USA Pete Sampras :5. SER Novak Djokovic :6. SWE Björn Borg :7. AUS Ken Rosewall :8. TCHUSA Ivan Lendl :9. USA John McEnroe :10. USA Jimmy Connors :11. USA Andre Agassi :12. SWE Mats Wilander :13. GER Boris Becker :14. SWE Stefan Edberg :15. AUS John Newcombe :16. ARG Guillermo Vilas :17. USA Jim Courier :18. GBR Andy Murray :19. ROM Ilie Năstase :20. USA Arthur Ashe :21. BRA Gustavo Kuerten :22. AUS Lleyton Hewitt :23. USA Stan Smith :24. SUI Stan Wawrinka :25. USA Andy Roddick Women :1. USA Serena Williams :2. GER Steffi Graf :3. TCHUSA Martina Navratilova :4. AUS Margaret Court :5. USA Chris Evert :6. USA Billie Jean King :7. YUGFR YugoslaviaUSA Monica Seles :8. USA Venus Williams :9. BEL Justine Henin :10. AUS Evonne Goolagong :11. SUI Martina Hingis :12. RUS Maria Sharapova :13. ESP Arantxa Sánchez Vicario :14. BEL Kim Clijsters :15. USA Lindsay Davenport :16. GBR Virginia Wade :17. USA Jennifer Capriati :18. USA Tracy Austin :19. TCHAUS Hana Mandlíková :20. ARG Gabriela Sabatini :21. FRA Amélie Mauresmo :22. BLR Victoria Azarenka :23. GER Angelique Kerber :24. DEN Caroline Wozniacki :25. CHN Na Li

References

References

1. (June 30, 2012). "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". [[Alliance for Audited Media]].
2. (January 8, 2015). "1965: The TENNIS Era Begins".
3. (December 9, 1998). "Tennis Magazine Hopes Seles Sells New Cover Look". Tribune Publishing.
4. Thomaselli, Rich. (October 6, 2003). "Pete Sampras Becomes Part Owner of "Tennis" Magazine". Advertising Age.
5. (August 18, 2014). "Tennis' publisher buys firm's controlling stake". American City Business Journals.
6. (March 1, 2017). "Sinclair Buys 'Tennis' Magazine". NewBay Media.
7. culminating in the [http://backissues.com/issue/Tennis-November-2005 November/December 2005 issue] {{Webarchive. link. (2017-04-03)
8. "40 Greatest Players of the ''Tennis'' Era".
9. "The 50 greatest players of the Open Era".