Bagel, a new magazine for tennis obsessives, began as any self-respecting magazine for tennis obsessives should: on the court. “I play tennis with one of my cofounders, Julian [Cirrone], who’s also a tennis coach,” says Stuart Brumfitt, Bagel’s editor. “We were talking about tennis magazines, and we both felt there was room for something new—something that matched how the game is changing quite significantly right now.”
More specifically, Brumfitt (who previously served as editor of the relaunched youth-culture title The Face and as an associate editor at GQ Style) and his cofounders, Cirrone and Arnaud Milliquet, set about creating a title that would capture the spirit of a new wave of players. Following the recent departures of titans like Serena Williams and Roger Federer from the sport, a new guard is captivating audiences with their candor and charm—and bringing fresh fans into the fold in the process—so it’s only fitting that a new kind of tennis media should arrive to document it. “They’re all engaging with social media a bit more and allowing us to get more of a sense of their personalities,” says Brumfitt. “Naomi Osaka has been opening up these really brilliant conversations around mental health and Black Lives Matter, and Iga Swiatek is still wearing the Ukraine ribbon in her hat. It feels like this younger generation is a bit more open to talking about the issues affecting them.”
So too does the magazine aim to reflect how tennis’s role in popular culture has shifted, with Brumfitt citing the success of Netflix’s Break Point series, the increasing presence of top-flight tennis stars on the front row at Fashion Week, and the release of Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya-starring Challengers later this summer. “There are tons of actors and musicians and artists who are big fans of tennis,” he adds. “We want to be capturing the crossover between tennis and the wider world, basically.” Within the first issue, that interdisciplinary vision is expressed through everything from a feature on the best snacks available on the tennis circuit (think porchetta at the Italian Open and acai bowls in Rio) to a fashion story featuring models in Prada’s sporty diffusion line Linea Rossa posing with tennis rackets or pairing Nike swoosh socks with Burberry checks. “We wanted it to feel like something you might actually wear on the court or coming off the court,” Brumfitt says of the title’s approach to style.
Still, the aim of the magazine is to appeal to serious tennis heads too. Brumfitt names magazines he grew up reading as a kid in the UK, such as Serve and Volley and Ace, as central inspirations—“I used to devour them”—and says it was essential that Bagel also provide something “useful” to your everyday tennis player. To wit, there are playfully designed but accessible product pages that spotlight the very best (and most stylish) kit on the market, as well as an extended feature on a local group of tennis juniors in east London, sensitively photographed by Jessica Emovon.
Elsewhere, there’s a guide to optimizing your play through selecting the right strings, courtesy of “self-confessed restringing nerd” Fabricio Mendes; a double spread of tips to improve your serve, courtesy of the Instagram-favorite tennis coach Dylan Gee; and most intriguingly of all, perhaps, an interview with Daria Abramowicz, a sports psychologist who travels full-time with Iga Swiatek on the tour and has a played a behind-the-scenes role in the 22-year-old Polish wunderkind’s rise to number one. “It’s definitely a mix of very nerdy tennis stuff, local grassroots community, culture and style, and then some big interviews,” says Brumfitt.
On the subject of big interviews, for the magazine’s first issue the team managed to land a cover story with none other than Frances Tiafoe, the buzzy 25-year-old American player who hit a career-high number 10 ranking in men’s singles last month. (As an example of the more interesting parallels between tennis and popular culture that go less remarked upon by the tennis establishment, Brumfitt notes that Tiafoe spent part of the shoot playing his favorite Afrobeat artists for the team: “It can feel like there’s a disconnect between these cool, younger players and what they’re into, and how tennis is being represented through magazines and social media channels or in the media on the tour.”) But the wide-ranging interview touches on another message at the core of the project—and of “the post-GOAT era,” as the magazine puts it, more generally. It might sound obvious, but part of Tiafoe’s appeal and charisma, which he shares with so many of the players poised to dominate the next decade of tennis, is that he just seems, well, fun.
Which leads us to a final question that may be especially pressing for those less familiar with tennis lingo: Why, exactly, is the magazine called Bagel? Well, a bagel refers to a set that ends with a score of 6-0, the name alluding to the shape of the zero. (For a set ending 6-1, the nickname is a breadstick.) “It felt a bit counter to the stuffier, more country-club vibes that tennis is associated with,” Brumfitt says with a laugh, noting that it was important the magazine didn’t take itself too seriously. “We just want to play a part in refreshing and updating the game.”
