Is Men’s Tennis in Crisis?

A garden in the San Fernando Valley is ground-zero for West Coasters eager to unlock the secret lessons only the slidey stuff can teach.

The Wayfinder Family Services Center in Windsor Hills, CA, buzzed with competition. Shoes squeaked across the court, tennis balls filled with bells jingled through the gym, and players could be heard asking their opponents: "Ready?"

RAFA, a four-part documentary on the most reserved member of the Big Three, is out on Netflix. By director Zach Heinzerling, the series airs a side of Rafael Nadal that he rarely showed during his 24 years on the pro tour, but that many of us suspected, or hoped, was there all along. Racquet sat down with Heinzerling to talk about his unprecedented access, and how he was able to tease out the Rafa we now find on the screen.

In her new book, ACE: the times & style of tennis, creative director Sunita Kumar Nair delves into the history of tennis clothing, and what makes the court a de facto runway.

There is a simple explanation for why Roland-Garros has so often decided to go its own way: because France thinks it is the best at everything. 

Sinner and Alcaraz have split the last two calendar years of Grand Slams and counting, and have set themselves scarily far apart from the rest of the pack. But beneath their momentous, center-stage war, another is incubating.