How did your career in sports writing begin? How did it lead to your fascination with Tennis?
I first started freelance writing on sports and travel when I still lived in California back in like 2014, 2015. I joined a community of journalists and they helped me with some pitches and off I went. I moved to New York in 2016 and I got a job in journalism and really leaned into doing more sports, specifically tennis. I got assigned by the New York Times to write some tennis pieces, some stuff on pro players as well as a piece where I went to cover the revitalization of a tennis center in Havana, Cuba. That piece was probably everyone's clue that this book would come one day. I didn't know it at the time but that reporting trip was probably the happiest I've ever been. So it should've been more obvious to me that I should've followed that kernel into a book.
Tell us about your new book, The Tennis Court: A Journey to Discover the World’s Greatest Tennis Courts!
This coffee table book is fun and silly and wild! It's meant to appeal to everyone, from the total tennis nerds to people who don't know anything about tennis but appreciate the aesthetics. Keep in mind: tennis is our only sport where the canvas we play on changes from place to place. The book really celebrates that.
So! The Tennis Court is this fun visual and reported odyssey in pursuit of the world's greatest and most unique homes of tennis. That includes a remote court in Northern Scotland or one in the Faroe Islands or Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Tennis is everywhere! After I got the contract to do the book and after an extended research period, I traveled for about 510 days to visit as many tennis grounds as I could manage. I went to over 1,000 tennis grounds (public courts, stadiums, private clubs, etc.) and played lots and lots of tennis. (I was a fairly high-level junior player, burnt out in college, and still play tournaments today from time to time.) One note: there are no courts at private homes in the book. Every place had to be accessible to the public at some point in the year, whether buying tickets to a tournament or going to play there.
What’s your favorite part about the New York tennis community?
I think a lot of the NYC tennis community will agree when I say playing tennis here is a bit f*cking crazy. My favorite part about it is the fervor, the commitment and mad dash to get court time in the city. I write in the book that tennis is "the most ruthless pursuit in NYC," and I mean it. I don't think you'll find any other place in the world where such committed people come together in their own pockets of their city to talk about and play tennis. And as with all things in this city, there are some true characters in NYC tennis. I like to encourage everyone to play more doubles and thus meet more people. I'll also add that finding new tennis partners in this city is just like dating but way more intense. The Whatsapp and Telegram groups and the subsequent Instagram stalking has serious hookup app fervor vibes.
How did you discover all of the tennis courts from around the world that are featured in your book?
So my time in the journalism world included a few years doing investigative works on some heavier subjects than tennis—like gun violence and human trafficking. But I started the tennis courts book like I'd start those investigative projects. I got on the phone. I had a researcher helping me, and we started with a country-by-country web search for notable courts, whether stadiums where the pros play, public courts, private clubs, tennis academies, or something else. That gave us a small sense of what was going on in tennis in Greece and Egypt and Australia, etc. etc. Then we picked up the phone for about four months and talked to people in almost every country in the world where tennis is played. And we just asked, "Where are your most cherished courts, your most unique courts, or your courts where the community is just ravenous for tennis and supportive of each other?" That's really how we did it. Community is at the center of the book, and I hope that comes through.
Do you have a favorite tennis court to play on in NYC?
I'm biased. I live in Fort Greene so I spend most of my time hitting on the courts in Fort Greene Park. There's a very large contingency of very high-level players around there. We are all very competitive with each other but it's pretty playful and kind-hearted. Most days. (Disclaimer: I'm on the board of the Fort Greene Tennis Association. It's a volunteer board and we work to make tennis more accessible and run events for the community.)
There are some other courts around the city I really like. The Hudson River courts are such a scene. I love it. I also go out to the National Tennis Center fairly often, especially in winter. I steer clear of the Central Park Courts. I'll also plug that playing on the semi-hidden court in Grand Central Station is fun to do once, if you can snag a reservation a few months out.
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