About Peter Bodo
TennisWorld simultaneously represents the last unturned stone and the most logical next step in Peter Bodo’s long career as a writer for TENNIS. Pete’s first major tennis assignment was covering the U.S. vs. Australia Davis Cup final in Cleveland in 1973, for the Passaic Herald-News.
Soon thereafter, Pete received his first assignment from TENNIS—a lengthy profile of Evonne Goolagong Cawley. He never looked back. Some 30-odd years later, his output includes hundreds of essays and profiles, half a dozen books, and a history of helping to shape TENNIS’ coverage and content as a Contributing Editor, Senior Writer, and, mostly recently, Senior Editor/Blogger.
Pete was born in Austria to Hungarian parents and emigrated to the U.S. at age 4, in 1953. He grew up in New York and suburban New Jersey and attended Clifton (N.J.) High School and Seton Hall University, where he was an English major. He learned tennis as a youth, played a club-level game, and taught the sport occasionally while in college.
Pete has covered every major tennis tournament multiple times, and gone on assignment for TENNIS to locales such as Beijing, China, Monte Carlo, Ecuador, Moscow, Hawaii, and Australia. He was the winner of the WTA writer of the year award twice, in 1979 and 1981. He’s also become TENNIS’ unofficial representative in the media and other public forums.
While tennis has been the dominant theme in Pete’s professional life, he’s covered events as diverse as the Ali vs. Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight title fight, NCAA Final Four tournament, Major League Baseball, world-class soccer matches, Indianapolis 500, NFL playoffs, and pro bass fishing events.
An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Pete’s also a principal “Outdoors” columnist for the New York Times and an active conservationist and columnist for the Atlantic Salmon Journal.
His publishing credits include:
Tennis for Dummies, by Patrick McEnroe with Peter Bodo (IDG Books, 1998)
The Atlantic Salmon Handbook (Lyons Press, 1997)
A celebration of Atlantic salmon and salmon angling.
The Courts of Babylon: Tales of Greed and Glory From the Harsh New World of Professional Tennis (Scribner, 1995)
A collection of essays charting how the game of tennis has changed in the professional era that began in 1968, many of them about the top players’ lives and careers. A culmination of 20 years of watching and reporting on the game and its culture.
Rashad: Mikes, Vikes and a Little Something on the Back Side (Viking, 1985)
The “as told to” autobiography of the former all-pro NFL receiver and popular television commentator, Ahmad Rashad.
Inside Tennis: A Season on the Pro Tour (Delta, 1978)
A description of the top professional tennis players and their itinerant way of life via the diary of one spring/summer season beginning at the Italian Open in Rome and concluding at the U.S. Open in New York.
Pelé’s New World, by Peter Bodo and David Hirshey (Norton, 1976)
A look at the history of soccer in the U.S., focusing on how the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League landed the international superstar, Pelé. A look at what happened to the team, and the game, through Pelé’s first year in America.
Soccer (Walker, 1978)
Five long essays on the game, with photographs.
Pete’s comic novel, The Trout Whisperers, will be published by Stackpole this fall. He lives in New York with his wife, Lisa, and not-quite 3-year-old son, Luke, and spends as much of his time as he can fishing and hunting, often on his upstate farm in the Catskill Mountains.
The Backfield:
TennisWorld is also the baby of TENNIS Magazine Assistant Editor Christopher Chung, who provides invaluable copy-editing, hands-on, informal tech support, and solid advice. Chris, who’s played the game for almost two decades, attended Carnegie Mellon University, where he majored in mathematical sciences and minored in English. He lives in New York City.
Tino Persico, Online Producer for TENNIS.com, designed the current full-feature version of TennisWorld as one of his many achievements in developing, creating, and producing the new TENNIS.com. Tino is originally from Pennsylvania and has been a lifelong tennis player. He now resides in Los Angeles.
Hat Tips:
Norb Garrett: Miller Publishing Group editorial director, for green-lighting TennisWorld.
Mark Woodruff: Editor-At-Large of TENNIS Magazine for supporting TW from the get-go.
Liza Horan: Former Internet Director for TENNIS.com, who was there at the dawn.
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