Bagel Is the Tennis Magazine Charting the Sport’s Thrilling New Wave

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 stuff, 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 Afrobeats 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.”