Tennis.com had to take a massive step in its daily operations to stay relevant in the digital era. One of the premier tennis media publications of its time has decided to shut down its editorial, following a major shift in the website’s direction that has left fans heartbroken.

Tennis.com was the digital arm of Tennis Magazine, which was one of the oldest tennis publications in print media. The print side of it was shuttered in 2022, with the website giving fans a taste of the old-school tennis journalism, with compelling storylines and engaging narratives. However, in their recent move to shut down the editorial, the organization has seen some of the top journalists like Pete Bodo and Steve Tignor leave the organization, which has left fans nostalgic. They had started some of the early tennis blogs, such as TennisWorld and the Concrete Network, giving a forum for online discussion for the tennis fans.

Tennis.com has pivoted to just keeping track of the scores and results of ongoing Tour-level events, rather than daily columns from top-quality writers and live reporting of the sport. Being part of the same network group as the Tennis Channel, Tennis.com is the joint home for the Big T podcast, one of the network’s top products featuring experts like Brad Gilbert, Mark Petchey, and Andrea Petkovic, among others.

Among other changes, the new website takes a data-oriented approach, offering the audience statistical insights on match scores and player head-to-heads, along with live betting odds, targeting a specific audience segment. Since the new site offers no option for readers to read match previews, fans are shifting towards digital subscriptions, with the likes of Tennis Channel Plus as the new streaming platform for the network.

Fans are going through a feeling of nostalgia with the editorial at Tennis.Com coming to an end, as that was the last connection one had to the old print journalism of Tennis Magazine. The magazine covered some of the golden moments of the sport, with Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and Chris Evert emerging as global superstars. Evert even wrote her own pieces from time to time.

However, the old school tennis fans still have the Racquet and Tennishead magazines, which still center around print journalism values. While the former covers the crossover between tennis and art and fashion, the latter is more technically oriented, focusing on tournaments, player profiles, and equipment reviews.

Understandably, fans have found it difficult to believe that one of the last links to the era of print journalism has come to an end, and they have taken to social media to mourn the loss.

Fans Mourn the End of Print Journalism at Tennis Magazine

Fans were not happy but had to accept the closure as Tennis.Com ended its editorial division. One fan stated that the loss of great writing and interviews on the website was tough to accept, as the site transitioned to a mere scorecard. “Yeah, it’s a real loss. Once the place where great writing and interviews could be found. Now, just a score sheet,” said the fan.

Some fans were so attached to the site that they regularly checked in just to see the scores. “Sad, my daily vocation has stopped. Still, by a force of habit, I open their page daily only to see scores”, said a fan.

Fans also pointed out that the introduction of AI was the cause of print media gradually becoming obsolete. “Landscape around tennis is changing rapidly with the introduction of AI. I already miss the Open Era Rankings site, which was canceled in June. Some devoted amateur aficionados couldn’t keep up with AI and quit”, said a fan.

Chris Evert was involved in the creation of Tennis Magazine since 2000, as the 18-time Major champion had a front-page column in the publication. She wrote opinion pieces and technical guides and helped shape the product’s editorial direction alongside journalists such as Tignor and Bodo. That is what a fan remembered when the news broke that the organization was shutting down its decades-long editorial.

“Tragic. I learnt all my tennis from the frame by frame instructions. Arthur Ashe, Dennis van der Meer, and Allan Fox. Contributing editors Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert”, said a fan, while another stated, “Tennis Magazine for us starting to follow tennis in the 80s was like a tennis Bible, we could barely wait for new issue to be released”.

Digitization and the introduction of AI have seriously hit print journalism, with effects rippling into sports journalism, including tennis, where younger audiences are increasingly drawn to audiovisual formats like podcasts rather than reading detailed written columns.