What’s Left of Tennis Journalism Is Struggling to Keep Up
Every August, Michael Lewis goes on a pilgrimage. He boards the Long Island Rail Road from his home in Port Washington, New York, and rides to one of the tennis world’s holiest sites: Flushing, Queens, the home of the US Open. “I still get excited every time I walk into the Open,” Lewis said. “I just love the thrill.”
Lewis has been a tennis reporter, his dream job, since 2013. Freelancing for regional and local publications, he’s carved out a niche writing about up-and-coming pros for their hometown papers: Tommy Paul for North Carolina’s Daily Reflector, Coco Gauff for the Palm Beach Post. But he’ll be the first to tell you he doesn’t do it for the money—fifty or seventy-five dollars is about what he charges for an article. In recent years, he has made most of his income ghostwriting books. “This is all a labor of love for me,” he said.
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