Blueprints and canvas are themes I kept coming back to as we were compiling this issue—which builds on the infrastructure of the 78’ x 36’ frame of a tennis court and radiates outwards. From glorious tennis structures surrounding the field of play to gallery walls, where celebrated artists tangle with tennis in their various mediums: this 28th edition of Racquet is dedicated to it all.
It feels fitting that Brutalism is everywhere in these pages—Italian architect and photographer Martina Rosati captured classic British structure at the Barbican and its courts, and design writer Rachel Davies touches on the most beautiful buildings—from Los Cabos’ new rammed-earth public tennis facility to the Neuendorf House, a riotously pink modernist escape on Mallorca. A mélange of more traditional architectural styles is on display in our cover story, where Spanish writer Vital Villarrubia and Italian photographer Letizia Cigliutti visit some of the most storied properties in Italy, Spain and Portugal to bring us A Playable Feast, featuring the tennis court as framed by luxurious Belmond hotels.
First-time contributor Beau Dealy flew down to South Florida to meet American iconoclast Reilly Opelka, who has quietly become the most sophisticated art collector on the pro tour. We hear from his gurus Tim Van Laere and the only fine artist (we know of) who’s ever coached from a player’s box, Friedrich Kunath—whom we featured on the cover of Issue No. 9—about the TVLG ART x TENNIS CLUB they’ve created.
Athens-based curator Nicolas Vamvouklis presents a portfolio of his favorite artists, Ezequiel Olvera profiles LA-based painter Alex Chaves, Paul Tedesco explores artistic purity of the tennis ball and Morgan Mason launches us into the literary arts, finding the subtext of tennis in Empire of the Sun.
And let’s not forget Gladys Heldman, the publisher of World Tennis and the visionary behind the Virginia Slims circuit. Heldman brokered deals and hosted legendary mixers with sponsors, players and promoters in her stunning Santa Fe Spanish Pueblo style house—explored by Nick Pachelli, who grew up near the adobe home and its custom-built court. Illustrator Alonso Guzmán Baron closes us out with tennis dreamscapes that only he could conjure, art about architecture.
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