Tennis is a U.S. print sports magazine devoted to the sport of tennis. It is published eight months per year, and operates a website, Tennis.com.
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.
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 magazineâÂÂusually the first pageâÂÂwhich 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.
In celebration of its 40th anniversary (1965âÂÂ2005), Tennis published a series rating the 40 best players of those four decades.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Open Era in tennis (1968âÂÂ2018), the magazine published a series rating the 50 best players of those five decades (25 men and 25 women).
Men
Women