factory tours tampa

9 Fantastic Factory Tours You Can Only Take In Florida

Victoria is a native Floridian and writer for OIYS. She also makes art, jewelry, and other things for her shop, The Gilded Gator .

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It’s always fascinating to see the process behind how things are made. Here in the Sunshine State, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at factories manufacturing everything from chocolates to airplanes. Take a look at the list below and you might find a fascinating tour near you:

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Have you taken any of these fun and fascinating tours in Florida? Do you know of any others that deserved to make the list?

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Tampa Factory Tours

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Tabanero Cigars Factory

• 1601 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605
• (813) 402-6316
• About Come and experience the re-birth of Handmade Cigars in the USA by passionate Cuban born artisans. As you tour the factory you will be intrigued by how we have recreated Old World Havana at a time when relations with Cuba appear to be headed in a new direction. Experience the methods utilized to make the world's finest cigars in Historic Ybor City, the once and future cigar capital of the World.

Dining/Nightlife

• Days/Hours of Operation: we are open from 10 am until 10 pm Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am until 11 pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 am to 8 pm Sunday Offering the finest handmade cigars and the most amazing coffee for your enjoyment. We also offer a one hour tour of our facility, if interested in a tour please visit out we sbte and click on the tour icon
• Number of Indoor Seats: 20
• Private/Group Room Capacity: 20
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You can tour Tampa’s Newman cigar factory and be “like walking back in time”

• Paul Guzzo Times staff

TAMPA — J.C. Newman Cigar Company, which runs Tampa’s last cigar factory, celebrated its 125th birthday this year.

But rather than ask for presents, the nation’s oldest family-owned cigar company is giving gifts.

The J.C. Newman Cigar Museum recently opened in their Ybor City factory at 2701 N. 16th St. and offers guided 90-minute tours of an operation that produces 12 million cigars a year.

Admission is free, but the tours cost $15 per person and must be booked in advance via their website www.jcnewman.com .

“This is our birthday gift to the city,” third-generation company president Eric Newman said. “Tampa used to have 150 cigar factories. That is why we are called Cigar City. We built this museum to showcase the way that Tampa was. Walking into our factory is like walking back in time.”

The 1,750-square-foot museum spread over three floors includes artifacts dating to J.C. Newman Cigar Company’s birth in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895.

Among curator Holden Rasmussen’s favorites is a wooden salesman carrying case from the early 1900s.

“Now we have salespeople for each region,” Rasmussen said. “But back then, cigar salespeople were independent contractors who sold multiple brands for multiple companies.”

Newman is drawn to a financial statement from 1912 that was filed by his grandfather and company founder Julius C. Newman.

“He made $603 one month, which was pretty good back then,” Newman said.

And then there is the humidor humidifier that today, Newman laughed, would be considered a “fire hazard” but in the early 1900s was a “modern marvel.”

The humidifier is a mason jar with a lightbulb hooked to the lid. The jar is filled two-thirds with water and the heat from the bulb creates a mist.

“Place your cigars in a cabinet with the humidifier to keep them moist,” Newman said. “And hope it doesn’t burn down your house.”

The tour of factory operations also provides glimpses into the past, Newman said, but those artifacts are still in use. “We make cigars the same way my grandfather did.”

Tour guests watch employees work the factory’s hand- and foot-operated machines from the 1930s. The factory has 20 machines and runs around 14 per day.

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“These are the same machines my grandfather used,” Newman said.

Employees stretch a wrapper leaf across their machine’s sheet. Controlled by a foot pedal in the same manner as vintage sewing machines, the machine then cuts the wrapper and moves it to other compartments where it is filled with tobacco and rolled into a cigar.

“There is a skill to operating the machines,” Newman said. “It’s like golf. The best golfers make driving a ball far look easy. Then you try and realize it’s not that easy.”

Before those machines, Newman cigars were hand-rolled. To keep that tradition alive, the Newman factory employs three rollers whose skill can be observed as part of the paid tour.

They roll The American, named after the first cigar made at that factory when it was operated by E. Regensburg & Sons.

Built in 1910, the Regensburg’s three-story, 97,000-square-foot brick factory was hailed by newspapers as “Tampa’s great cigar factory” due to its size and clock tower that could be seen and heard for miles.

As part of the 125th celebration, the Newmans restored the clock .

The Newman family’s history is told through museum placards and a public screening room’s 21 short videos.

In 1889, the Newman family moved from Austria-Hungary to Cleveland. Not wanting to become a tailor like his brothers, Julius C. Newman set his sights on cigar rolling. His mother, Hannah Newman, paid a cigarmaker to teach her son the trade.

He established the company in 1895 in the family barn but relocated to the house basement when winter arrived. That locale lasted only a few weeks. His mother kicked him out when the stored fruits and vegetables tasted like tobacco.

Julius C. Newman moved into a Cleveland storefront from where, by 1910, the company became the most successful of Cleveland’s 200 cigar factories. He built a 50,000-square-foot factory in 1914 where Cleveland’s Progressive Field baseball stadium sits today and later expanded to factories in Marion and Lorain, Ohio.

The company relocated to Tampa in 1954 so it could be closer to Cuba, which back then could still ship tobacco to the United States.

Today, the company uses tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Cameroon.

The American cigar is hand-rolled with tobacco grown only in the United States. It comes from Clermont, Fla., Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

“It makes no economic sense to hand-roll cigars,” Newman said. “It really doesn’t make much economic sense to still use antique hand-operated machines either. But we do both because we respect the family’s history and the industry’s history. We’re happy to now share that with the public.”

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Factory Tours

Celebrating american imagination and industry, 16 tours in florida.

25 Best Factory Tours in America for Families Who Love to Go Behind the Scenes

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After a prolonged period of being stuck at home, some families are looking to travel again. And while the COVID-19 pandemic means that precautions still have to be taken, and not every destination is up and running at 100% capacity, there's still plenty of unique experiences out there that are once again open to the public.

The following factory tours and appropriate for kids, are well-reviewed by families and are currently open to visitors (or will be opening soon). But you might want to book ahead — some require timed tickets or reservations before you visit. But when you're done, you'll all know a little bit more about how the world around you is made.

Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (Louisville, Kentucky)

Swing by to see how baseball bats are made — this company has been churning them out since 1884. Your family can walk through the factory production line and watch the wood chips fly! Everyone can try out bats from iconic players, like Babe Ruth and Derek Jeter. With plenty of photo ops (including your crew inside a giant baseball mitt) and a free mini bat souvenir for every guest, this tour will be a home run. Open daily; $ 18 for adults, $11 for ages 6 – 12, free for ages 5 and under

Jelly Belly Visitor Center & Factory (Fairfield, California)

From your perch above the production line, you’ll witness all the steps — slurry, steam bath, glossy application — it takes to create the gourmet jellybeans that have been a thing since the late 1800s. Video screens provide close-ups and fun facts (like it takes 1 – 2 weeks to make a jellybean). Feeling hungry? Stop at the café for a jellybean-shaped pizza. Open daily (but factory workers are typically there only on weekdays), $5 for adults, $2 for ages 2 and up, free for younger kids

The Kazoo Factory Tour Experience (Beaufort, South Carolina)

After learning the ins and outs of kazoo-making during a factory walk-through, everyone gets to create their own instrument to take home. A built-in souvenir is music to our ears! Open Monday to Friday, $9 for adults, $7 for ages 4 – 11, free for younger kids

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PEZ Visitor Center (Orange, Connecticut)

The colorful facility dispenses equal parts nostalgia (it maintains well-organized vintage PEZ displays) and tech wizardry (you can see how the famous candy is packed). Be sure to snap your kid’s pic in front of the world’s largest PEZ dispenser, which looks like a person wearing a PEZ-themed baseball cap. Open daily; $5 for adults, $4 for ages 3 – 12, free for younger kids

Polaris Experience Center (Roseau, Minnesota)

School-age kids who love to build things will have their mind blown going behind-the-scenes at this maker of snowmobiles and ATVs. On the guided tour, they’ll see laser cutters, high-speed saws and other cool equipment making parts for the vehicles. They can also watch motors being installed and ATVs being tested. Whoa! Open Monday to Friday; children under age 6 prohibited; free

Hammond’s Candy Factory Tour (Denver, Colorado)

This centuries-old confectioner invites you to see how it makes its lollipops, candy canes and other treats. Looking through large viewing windows, your crew will be gobsmacked at how the colorful candies are shaped and packaged. Open Monday –Saturday; free

Kohler Design Center Factory Tour (Kohler, Wisconsin)

Got a teen whose interested in manufacturing? They’ll be fascinated by this detailed two-hour, 3 ½-mile foray behind the scenes of how the brand’s famous plumbing products are created. Open Monday – Friday, children under 14 not permitted, free

Sweet Pete’s Candy Shop (Jacksonville, Florida)

Willy Wonka vibes are strong at this mansion that takes guests from room to room of candy-making demos. You’ll get to design your own chocolate bar, choosing from more than 16 toppings. Check availability online; $6.45 per person

Henry Ford Rouge Factory Tour (Dearborn, Michigan)

One truck per minute rolls off the assembly line at this famous automotive factory — and your crew gets a birds-eye view of the goings-on from a 1/3-mile observation deck. There’s also a gallery of cool cars, like a 1965 Ford Mustang, to check out. Check dates online; $22 for adults, $16.50 for ages 5 – 11, free for younger kids

Turkey Hill Experience (Columbia, Pennsylvania)

While the dairy producer’s actual factory is closed to the public, this children’s museum-like attraction gives families the inside scoop on ice cream-making, plus unlimited free samples. Your kids can create their own virtual flavor, and then star in a commercial promoting it . Open daily; starts at $10.50 per person

World of Coca-Cola (Atlanta, Georgia)

Since you can’t tour an actual Coke bottling plant, this attraction is the next best thing. Its Bottle Works exhibit, showcasing real equipment, explains the packaging process. And you’ll get a chance to taste different kinds of sodas from around the world. Open daily; $19 for adults, $15 for ages 3 – 12, free for younger kids

Tillamook Creamery Tour (Tillamook, Oregon)

From a viewing gallery above the factory floor, you’ll see how milk becomes cheese. Then hit the dining hall for gooey faves, likes grilled cheese and mac ’n cheese. Your fam can even share a “flight” of ice cream. Open daily; tour is free, you can add tasting experiences for a charge

Warner Bros. Studio Tour (Los Angeles, California)

Your crew will be star-struck hanging out at a working movie studio. During the hour-long guided portion, you’ll see backlots, movie sets and maybe even spy someone famous. Then you’ll have two more hours to explore on your own — plenty of time to snap a pic of your family in front of the fountain from Friends . Open daily: $69 for adults, $59 for ages 5 – 10

The Great Utz Chip Trip Tour (Hanover, Pennsylvania)

Kids will discover how potatoes get turned into chips at this famous maker’s plant near the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. They can watch factory workers from an observation gallery; closed-circuit TV monitors provide close-ups. Everyone receives a free sample of chips at the end. Open Monday – Thursday, free

Ben & Jerry’s Factory Experience (Waterbury, Vermont)

With a tentative re-opening planned for the end of June 2022, this beloved attraction wets appetites with a short movie about how Ben & Jerry got their start. From there, it’s off to the mezzanine where you’ll watch how the ice cream is made. Samples of ice cream (sometimes a flavor that’s exclusive to the factory) is the proverbial cherry on top. On your way out, visit the “ice cream graveyard” of flavors that are no longer made. Check back for ticket info

The Crayola Experience (Easton, Pennsylvania)

There are many activities to take part in at The Crayola experience, including a live show where a "crayonologist" demonstrates how crayons are made. The 65,000-square-foot attraction also includes a toddler and a big-kid playground, interactive games and a studio for art projects, among manny other stations — they recommend blocking out three or four hours for a visit. Open daily. Admission is $25 if you buy tickets in advance; a timed ticket is required for all visitors ages 3 and up. There are also Crayola Experience locations in Chandler, Arizona; Mall of America, Minnesota; Orlando, Florida and Plano, Texas, but offerings may vary

Taza Chocolate Factory Tour (Somerville, Massachusetts)

Specializing in stone-ground chocolate, this candy maker explains the production process and hosts a sampling. On weekends, there’s a scavenger hunt-themed tour for kids under age 10 . Open Wednesday – Sunday; $8-$12 per person

The White House (Washington, DC)

Though not a factory in the traditional sense, White House tours are back, and you can meander around the famous Blue Room, Red Room, State dining room and — best of all — the Rose Garden. But you can’t wait until the last minute to book. Twenty-one to 90 days before you’d like to visit, you need to request one of the free tours by contacting your congress member’s office. Tours are only available on Fridays and Saturdays

Blue Bell Creamery Factory Tour (Brenham, Texas)

Look high above the factory floor to see ice cream being packaged in different types of containers. An employee is on-hand to answer all the kids’ questions about the process, so encourage them to ask away. Open Monday – Friday; free

American Whistle Company (Columbus, Ohio)

A kitschy stop on a Midwest road trip, this factory doles out loads of engaging info about a topic you probably never considered — how whistles are made. Everyone receives a whistle to take home. Open Monday Friday; $6 per person

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A new battery plant in a West Virginia steel town could offer clues if Biden’s agenda is winning new supporters

The heart of steel country used to sit in the northern tip of West Virginia, sandwiched between Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

“Weirton Steel was the largest taxpayer in West Virginia for decades. We also were the largest employer,” said Paul Zuros, the Hancock County Administrator. “We became the fifth largest independent steel producer in the country, in the world really. I mean, it was huge.”

What You Need To Know

Spectrum news traveled to weirton, west virginia, as a new battery plant is being built on the site of a now-shuttered steel mill weirton steel once employed 14,000 people, but its last tin mill was idled in april the new battery plant is being built thanks, in part, to incentives provided by president joe biden’s inflation reduction act as biden tours the country to tout his economic record while he runs for reelection, residents in this deeply republican area don’t connect the new plant with his policies.

At its height, Weirton Steel employed about 14,000 people in the 1950s and 1960s.

But last month, production ended as the last tin mill operating was idled.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. Workers busted their butts. They didn’t do anything wrong,” said Mark Glyptis, the longtime president of United Steelworkers Local 2911. “The government turned their back on us.”

A new plant where one once stood

Like so many industrial communities across the Midwest, Weirton is trying to figure out how to reinvent itself after the once-booming United States steel industry disappeared as foreign steel imports were embraced.

After years spent watching their city’s sprawling steel site shrink, residents are now tracking something new being built on the very same grounds – a battery plant. And it comes right as the 2024 presidential election is approaching.

“I think the people here in this valley are extremely excited for it,” Zuros told Spectrum News.

Zuros has deep roots in Weirton.

“My family has been here for, aw jeez, more than 100 years now,” Zuros said. 

His father, grandparents, and great grandparents worked for Weirton Steel. Now, in addition to his role as county administrator, Zuros helps maintain a museum on Main Street to tell the city’s story.

“Where the Form Factory is being built is right here. This is all Form Factory now,” he said, gesturing toward a giant print of the Weirton Steel plant back in the day.

Form Energy is the company building a new plant on the grounds that once housed Weirton Steel. It will produce cutting-edge batteries that can store power generated by clean energy sources like solar and wind.

Glytpis, the local union president, calls it encouraging.

“It’s a good thing for America, and this valley, for sure,” he said.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s role

The plant is being built with incentives from President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act . According to Form Energy, it will provide Weirton with at least 750 new jobs.

“This would not happen without the Inflation Reduction Act. It would not have happened without it,” West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said at the plant’s groundbreaking ceremony last year. Manchin was a key architect behind the legislation.

Form Energy’s CEO also gave the bill a shoutout.

“Sen. Manchin and his efforts with the Inflation Reduction Act has accelerated our path to scale up in commercialization,” Mateo Jaramillo said. 

The plant is one of hundreds of renewable energy and electric vehicle projects benefiting from Biden’s legislation, which is aimed at creating new manufacturing jobs and speeding the transition to green energy. 

Last June, Biden spoke specifically about Form Energy at an event in Chicago.

“It’s being built on the same exact site,” Biden said of the battery plant. “Bringing back 750 good paying jobs. Bringing back a sense of pride and hope for the future, for all the people of Weirton.”

A Form Energy official told Spectrum News the company had been interested in Weirton before the climate bill became law, but once it passed, the legislation helped to speed up the site selection process and funding. An additional $290 million in state incentives helped sweeten the deal.

Biden’s pitch to voters for a second term

Like in that visit to Chicago, Biden, as he runs for reelection, has been touring the country to highlight how his policies are creating jobs. 

Earlier this month in the battleground state of Wisconsin, the president showcased an AI datacenter that Microsoft is building on land once set aside for a Trump administration project that never panned out.

“On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises,” Biden told the crowd.

A 2023  analysis from POLITICO  found that roughly two-thirds of the projects aided by Biden’s climate law are located in Republican districts.

In Weirton, where flags supporting former President Donald Trump still fly outside many homes and a Trump merchandise tent was set up on the edge of town, the Biden campaign is not expecting to make significant inroads; Trump won the county with 70% of the vote in 2020.

Residents Spectrum News spoke with said they did not know about the connection between Biden’s policies and the new battery plant – or they did not care.

“Just because a plant comes into town – whether he had his little imprint on it, I wasn’t aware of that,” Mark Steven Watson said. “This is Trump country. It’s very loyal and dedicated and committed.”

A few blocks away from the old Weirton Steel plant, Heidi Baranowski was critical of Biden.

“Any of his promises that were made were not kept,” she said. “And I think that a lot of people around here who were Democrats are probably Republicans now, or close to it, because Trump has promised and tried to put a foot forward on the promises.”

At Dee Jay’s, a rib restaurant and Weirton institution, owner Mike Sherbak said his customers do talk about the new plant, but not in a political sense.

“I don’t think that it’s going to be established enough to affect this round of elections,” he said.

According to Sam Workman, a political scientist at West Virginia University, voters in Weirton – and across the state – are more focused on the immediate, like the cost of living.

“While Biden is probably as pro-labor as any president in my lifetime, you know, when that coincides with higher prices at pumps and for milk, bread, and that sort of stuff, you know, that sort of detracts from that overall message,” Workman said.

Whether voters in places like Weirton begin to credit Biden for projects like this one remains to be seen. The election is still five months away. The new battery plant is expected to open later this year.

Tennis on The Athletic: Going beyond the baseline

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This article is part of the launch of extended tennis coverage on The Athletic , which will go beyond the baseline to bring you the biggest stories on and off the court. To follow the tennis vertical, click here .

Transition used to be at the heart of tennis . The development and ensuing dominance of serve-and-volley meant that moving from the baseline to the net — transitioning forward — was an essential skill. To name a few: Elizabeth Ryan; Jack Kramer; Pancho Gonzales; Rod Laver; Margaret Court; John McEnroe; Stefan Edberg; Martina Navratilova ; Pete Sampras … 

Tim Henman. Look, I’m British. Allow it.

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Then a new style emerged, later aided and abetted by slower hard courts, faster clay courts, and bouncier grass at Wimbledon, and strings and rackets and balls from another world. (If you think this is a conspiracy to remake tennis, consider that Gonzales was so dominant in the 1950s that they remade the rules of the sport thrice to try to give people a chance. But more on that another time.)

Baseliners took over, in every sense — repositioning the sport to the back of the court and redefining what it meant to play tennis at an elite level.

Nadal , Federer , Djokovic . Evert, Graf, Williams (S), Williams (V).

In 2024, transition is back in fashion, on and off the court.

Serena Williams - analysing the barely believable data that explains her genius

As tennis reckons with the retirement and decline of its most brilliant and famous players , with an internal battle to remake its very fabric  and with an 11-month season that makes it a global spectacle and a confusing injury factory all in one, The Athletic is making a transition of its own: taking you beyond the baseline, and into the heart of tennis.

Joining the fantastic Matthew Futterman is Charlie Eccleshare, former Tottenham Hotspur correspondent, key figure on the celebrated Football Cliches podcast, and a tennis writer in his time at the Daily Telegraph. Nothing is changing about the brilliant coverage the two have brought you so far, from exclusive insights into how players view their own games and breaking news stories about the fight to control the sport , to in-depth profiles of the greats and scouting the rising stars .

There’s just going to be even more of it, with even more focus on the human interest and cultural impact of tennis — on the places it intersects with politics , the law , business , money , fashion, art, culture, and film .

Netflix and tennis: Why did Break Point fail?

Did you know there’s a movie called “Challengers ”? Pretty good.

Matt and Charlie will also continue to ask difficult questions. Whether matters of inequality on-court , players able to take the court despite facing trial , or lawsuits from players against tennis associations , they will not shy away from seeking the truth and helping people understand tennis, the world, as much as tennis, the sport.

Tennis coverage will extend far, far beyond the four Grand Slams and key tournaments, but coverage of those events will bring you every big moment, and everything that they mean once the trophies are lifted and the stadiums are empty. At the French Open, which starts in earnest next week, we’ll bring you live coverage of the biggest moments, and the on-the-ground color that makes a Grand Slam tournament such a special occasion.

Outside of the showpiece events, we’ve already launched a Monday tennis briefing , designed to bring you the story behind the stories from the last week on and off court. Data  and beautiful visualisations  will be at the heart of our coverage, explaining the mechanics, miles per hour, and metrics behind the visceral experience of a Carlos Alcaraz forehand, a Coco Gauff backhand, a gossamer drop-shot or a rocketing serve, from the top of the game to the Challenger tours.

To begin: we asked a slew of top men’s players what it’s like to play against Rafael Nadal on clay , and investigated all the ways — from prize money and scheduling, to dress codes and the best-of-five debate — that tennis lets women down .

There’s much, much more to come: this week, this season, and beyond.

Tennis Briefing: Djokovic water bottle conspiracy? Over-eager umpires? Why so many injuries?

That’s what brings me, James Hansen, and senior editor for tennis, to The Athletic . I grew up through Henman’s many Grand Slam heartbreaks, playing on courts in a public park with my parents. My most vivid tennis memory, though, isn’t really about tennis at all: coming back from a cricket match in the car, and hearing a voice come over the radio explaining how a young Swiss guy with a ponytail, an attitude, and a one-handed backhand had just won Wimbledon for the first time.

In the years that followed, I was hooked: watching the Williams sisters exert their control, watching Martina Hingis, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova trying to fend them (and themselves) off, straining to see through the dark of a summer’s evening and the flash of bulbs as Rafael Nadal collapsed on the grass in 2008 and staring with both inevitability and disbelief as Andy Murray broke the Wimbledon curse in 2013.

There’s been so much more since, and there is so much more to come.

I am a club tennis player and doubles captain, and I want to bring all of you amateur players and fans more looks at how the dizzying heights of the sport we all love connect back to a hit on the local court. My editing background is in restaurant journalism, and it’s proven to be the ideal sounding board for my and The Athletic ’s vision for tennis.

We watch tennis with our eyes and experience it through sensations and emotions. Slack-jawed awe, hairs stood up on skin, joy and desolation, relief and revelation — but there is so much more that conspires to produce all those moments, hours of practice and months of preparation and years of history. The same relationship is true of food and restaurants. What we taste is only a tiny part of the story. In tennis, what we watch is just the start as much as the end, as much as what we are all here for.

So, what are you going to be seeing on The Athletic?

The life of a Wimbledon ball kid: from January trials to finals on Centre Court

Stars are being born, some who we know and some who we don’t. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner ’s rivalry is already in full effect; Iga Swiatek ’s bloodlessly efficient dominance has laid down a marker for Aryna Sabalenka , Coco Gauff , and Elena Rybakina, with the quartet beginning to form a serious rivalry in 2024. What of Dino Prizmic , Ben Shelton , Jakub Mensik, Arthur Fils ? What of Mirra Andreeva , Zheng Qinwen , Marta Kostyuk , Emma Navarro ?

By the time those names make their Grand Slam deep runs, and win their titles, the sport of tennis they know now may have changed before their eyes. The Grand Slams and ATP and WTA tours are locked in a battle for control, the impact of which is unknown for players at the top and for the hundreds more whose livelihoods are already strained by their dedication to one of the cruellest sports in the world. A Premier Tour might make the schedule more manageable, but it would also turn tennis into an essentially Anglophone pursuit. Saudi Arabia, a country with a terrible human rights record where homosexuality is punishable by death, wants to be a standard-bearer for the sport. The only place that both sides really agree? Tennis is broken, and needs to be fixed .

Who are the junior players, in colleges and academies and tennis centres and on public courts, with their parents, who are going to emerge into this fractured hall of mirrors, and what on earth do they make of the sport that they want to make a life out of? What does it mean to make a life-changing decision — go pro or go to college, change sport or change country — on the turn of just one point or two, in just one set, in just one match?

Stars are dying too. Rafael Nadal is in a dance between fitness and pride ; Andy Murray keeps making returns in every sense; Novak Djokovic is, finally and quietly but no less inevitably, showing that yes, even for him, time weathers. The new rules of retirement, the impossible (?) art of a gracious comeback , the valedictions and victory laps and the tears — it’s all going to be here.

In men’s and women’s tennis, so many players who, at any other time, might have been the people with hands on trophies and cheques in envelopes are reckoning with the accident of birth. There’s a clutch of men’s players caught between three of the best of all time and two likely to follow them, wondering exactly when it was supposed to be their turn. There’s a clutch of women’s players — on a tour whose winners are usually a little less predictable — asking what they are supposed to do against a world No 1 who can reel off 37 match streaks if she wants to, and a world No 2, 3, and 4 who look dead set on stopping her whenever they can. What is the psychological impact of being in the top 10 people in your sport in the world, but possibly never winning one of its biggest titles?

The last two decades have been some of the greatest in the history of the sport. They have also irredeemably warped what greatness is, what it looks like, and what we expect from those bestowed and burdened with it. So we are going to look back, as well as forward, to resurface the names, matches, and moments that have perhaps been lost or forgotten, or are needed to contextualise everything that is happening here and now. What does it mean, after all, to talk about a phenom so breathlessly in 2024 and beyond, without remembering that Monica Seles had eight Grand Slam titles by the time she was 19 (nineteen)?

We don’t quite know yet what that has done to tennis, to its players, and to its fans. But we are going to find out with you, and we are going to be here for it all.

Welcome to Tennis on The Athletic . We’re so glad you’re here — and we want to know what you want to see. Tell us in the comments.

(Top photos: Getty; Robert Prange/Frey/TPN; Matthew Stockman/Getty Images; Design: Dan Goldfarb )

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James Hansen is a Senior Editor for The Athletic covering tennis. Prior to joining The Athletic in 2024, he spent just under five years as an editor at Vox Media in London. He attended Cambridge University, where he played college tennis (no relation to the American circuit), and is now a team captain at Ealing Tennis Club in west London. Follow James on Twitter @ jameskhansen

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Rafael Nadal’s possible French Open farewell draws fans from all over the world

Fans of Spain’s Rafael Nadal pose for pictures with his statue ahead of his first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Spectators applaud for Spain’s Rafael Nadal during his first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, left, talks with coach Carlos Moya during a training session at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, May 25, 2024 in Paris. The French Open tennis tournament starts Sunday May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

A fans of Spain’s Rafael Nadal wears tennis balls with his nickname ahead of his first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic greets Spain’s Rafael Nadal after Nadal’s training session at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, May 25, 2024 in Paris. The French Open tennis tournament starts Sunday May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

Fans of Spain’s Rafael Nadal pose ahead of his first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

FILE - Spain’s Rafael Nadal kisses the trophy after defeating Argentina’s Mariano Puerta in their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium, Sunday June 5, 2005, in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, FIle)

Poland’s Iga Swiatek, bottom row fourth from left, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, top row third from left, and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, standing right in blue sweater and white cap, all watched Spain’s Rafael Nadal’s first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

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PARIS (AP) — They traveled from all over — from Europe and Oceania, from North America and South America — to be at Roland Garros on Monday, intent on watching Rafael Nadal play what turned out to be his only French Open match this year. And might be his last ever.

Nadal, who has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam trophies in Paris , lost 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Day 2 of the tournament in Court Philippe Chatrier against No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev . Tennis fans wanted to be present for what felt like a monumental occasion, even if Nadal said afterward there remains a chance he will return.

They were there to see Nadal compete , of course, but also to salute him as a player and person, to congratulate him on a remarkable career and, perhaps, to catch one final glimpse of his greatness at a tournament that has helped define his legacy.

“He’s my favorite tennis player. Maybe when he retires, I will find someone new. But I don’t know if I will give that much love to the next one,” said Fiona Li, a 35-year-old who works in luxury fashion in the Netherlands. “His power is that he never gives up. He encourages me when I am really down. He fights until the last minute. That’s what we need in daily life. When you’re sad or something, you watch him play, and everything is solved.”

Li, who said she’s been a Nadal fan since 2005, the year he won his first title at Roland Garros as a teenager, made sure to stop by the 3-meter-tall (about 10-feet-tall) statue of Nadal that was unveiled in 2021 and stands between one of the tournament’s main entrances and the 15,000-seat Chatrier stadium.

Wearing a makeshift tiara fashioned from four yellow tennis balls — each with a letter to spell out “Rafa” — Li posed for photos in front of the statue with three pals, one from Australia and two from China. Each member of the quartet wore a red T-shirt with a capital yellow letter from his first name. One held a red-and-yellow Spanish flag with “King of Roland Garros” stamped on it.

“Vamos, Rafa!” they shouted in unison.

Nadal turns 38 on June 3 and had indicated, amid a series of injuries to his hip and an abdominal muscle, that he would be retiring at some point in 2024. When told by a reporter on Saturday that most folks are assuming this will be his French Open adieu, he smiled and said: “Don’t assume.”

So who knows what the future holds? The whole thing has a bit of the same vibe as at the 2022 U.S. Open, when the world was well aware that Serena Williams was participating in what would be her last event, and she was feted by enthusiastic crowds.

Similarly, plenty of people yearned to soak up the atmosphere and get as close as possible to Nadal, or even just symbols of Nadal — whether by visiting that larger-than-life steel monument to him or catching a peek of a practice or buying merchandise.

The main on-site store has a special section of its main floor with Nadal-branded items, including an array of hats that come in six colors and go for 35 euros each (about $38).

Even Julio Parada, a 49-year-old Bolivian in banking, wanted a photo at the statue — while wearing a green hat with “RF” on it, representing Roger Federer.

“I like both. Actually, I prefer Roger, but Rafa was the most difficult rival he ever faced,” said Parada, attending his first Grand Slam tournament with his wife, Karina, and son, Julio, who is a student in Germany. “We made the effort to see Nadal, because we are aware that this is maybe his last French Open.”

Also holding tickets for Nadal vs. Zverev were Barbra Chambati, 49, and her daughter, Crystal, 25. Mom wore a salmon-colored top with Nadal’s bull horns logo. Crystal had on a white T-shirt — bought two days ago on the Champs-Élysées avenue — showing a photo of Nadal pumping his fist.

They tried to watch a training session at Court 3 a few hours before Monday’s match, but could not get in because it was too crowded. Still, it was a thrill simply to see him walk past afterward.

“He has a lot of money, but you wouldn’t know it because of his humility. He relates to anyone,” said Barbra Chambati, a food factory manager who said she is originally from Zimbabwe and has lived in New Zealand for two decades. “We are so grateful that, for so many years, he has given his all for our enjoyment.”

Their trip included a 17-hour flight from Auckland to Dubai, a stopover, and a 7-hour flight from Dubai to Paris.

“A bit long, but worth it,” Barbra Chambati said. “We wouldn’t change it for anything.”

They were part of a tennis tour group that included Cathy Davis, a 75-year-old retiree from Toronto, who was wearing a purple hat with the bull logo.

She proclaimed herself a “Rafa supreme fan.”

“He’s a shot-maker. I love the overhead smash; he’s the king of that. His down-the-line forehand. Cross-court backhand. And now he comes to the net,” Davis said. “On the court, intensity-plus. Off it, very humble. Kind. He’s one thing on the court and someone a little bit different off.”

As with Williams a little less than two years ago in New York, no one could know for sure before Monday’s match how long Nadal would remain in the draw over these two weeks.

Li, for one, was prepared. She said she purchased tickets for the full event.

“No matter how far he goes,” she said before watching Nadal against Zverev, “I will be there.”

Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis