Racquet #25

Issue #25

Don't call it a comeback: Legendary Esquire EIC David Granger comes out of magazine retirement to guest edit this issue, and the main man on everyone's minds? After 15 years away, Andre Agassi is everywhere in tennis, but what does he want from us? Foster Kamer, fellow Las Vegas native son, explores why the man who gave us Image Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing, is back in business in a big way. The legendary sportswriter Johnette Howard reminds us that Monica Seles wasn't just the winningest teen tennis sensation, she was also a bubbly and spirited personality before the event that would define her career, and life, took place.

Esquire's Cal Fussman revives his award-winning column What I've Learned in our pages featuring interviews with Danielle Collins on her last year on tour and Taylor Townsend just off her first Slam title at Wimbledon. Frequent contributor Caira Connor explores the tragedy of Dominic Thiem and director and animator Mickey Duzyj illustrates his teen tennis years (spoiler: he was a goth).

Towering voices from Mary Carillo to Wright Thompson to Geoff Dyer tell us about The Best Thing I've Ever Seen on a Tennis Court, award-winning mixologist David Wondrich offers a new tennis cocktail just in time for the US Open and novelist Stephen Marche explains what Challengers made clear: In books, film and culture, tennis has always been a metaphor for sex.