diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index bb67723f5..f8ceb9934 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ addons:
 # test.
 install:
     - travis_retry pip install tox sphinx
+    # upgrade requests to satisfy sphinx linkcheck (for building man pages)
+    - if [[ $TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION == *_site_packages ]]; then pip install -U requests; fi
     - travis_retry tox -e $TOX_ENV --notest
 
 script: