I’ve always loved collecting sports memorabilia. I was full-send as a kid, collecting cards, magazines, & sports books. Every Sports Illustrated issue from 1984-2022 was mine; they went with me from my childhood home to college, medical school, residency and life ongoing.
In an ironic twist, the sport I loved to watch and play the most—tennis—had virtually nothing to collect growing up. Sure, there would be the occasional signed photos or Sports Illustrated cover (Ivan Lendl and “The Champion That Nobody Cares About,” for example), but nothing I could trade with my friends or display in my room.
This was always hard to reconcile, as tennis has always been one of the largest truly global sports, yet somehow it lacked the collectible cachet of baseball, football, or basketball. So naturally when I discovered Racquet in 2016, I needed not just to subscribe, but also to collect and preserve. The itch must be scratched, and as I had always done, I carefully stored it, along with each issue that followed.