welcome

introduction

I recently went to a Substack mixer in New York. When I arrived, I had this realization that I don’t actually know a lot of Substack people. But it was fun to meet and mingle and chat with people. I ended up talking for a long time with Carolyn Yoo, who is WONDERFUL and one of my new favorite people. We talked about books and creativity and stationery. We disclosed our favorite fountain pens to each other and now I feel like we are old friends—the easiest way to become my friend is to talk to me about stationery.

I told Carolyn that I was thinking of starting a second newsletter to store all of my tennis stuff. It was either that or write a novel about tennis (I am writing a novel about tennis, lol), but she said that I could just use a section so I wouldn’t have to start a whole new newsletter. This was news to me! I didn’t know that sections were a thing. I have no understanding of how anything on Substack works, and it is a minor miracle that I have managed to avoid deleting the whole thing by accident. Anyway, Carolyn very patiently explained to me that I could create a kind of mini-publication inside of the broader Sweater Weather newsletter, and that I could dedicate this space to tennis so that people who want to read can read and those who don’t want to read do not have to put up with it.

This bit of information alone made going to the mixer worth it.

So welcome to Drill & Play. This is where I will write about tennis. I will write about my racquets, my training, my matches, and miscellaneous tennis thoughts. I have missed writing the newsletter, but honestly, I have not read anything or watched anything, like at all, and there’s just nothing to write about. My life, for the last month or two, has been tennis and only tennis. I think about tennis. I watch tennis. I play tennis. I don’t see people. I don’t have lunches. I don’t read novels. I don’t watch movies or partake in television. I have virtually no artistic thoughts whatsoever. I only think about tennis. And it’s all I want to think about and write about. It feels like a relief to confess that.

But it’s hard to imagine the average reader of Sweater Weather wanting to read me parsing whether to go for the 98-sq. inch TF40 or the 100-sq. inch TF40. Or listen to me complain about people who go into the next class up in skill level “to challenge themselves” and ruin the vibe for everybody. I want to read that, of course. It’s all I want to read. But I have to admit that I am a pretty niche audience.

I will of course still write the usual Sweater Weather. But I am hoping to avoid boring you to tears with all this tennis stuff unless you are also a tennis freak, in which case…welcome.

Ball in.

PS—big thank you to Carolyn for the advice! Wow! Technology is so amazing.

b