Welcome to Hard Court!

Welcome to Hard Court, a weekly tennis dispatch that goes beyond the baseline. Every week, I recap the latest tennis news on and off the court for fans of the game who want more than just a rundown of the latest stats. That means tournament highs and lows, the latest player news, and the fun details that often go ignored, from kit and sponsor changes, celebrity fans, to the growing crop of tennis influencers and their impact on the sport.

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But what about clay and grass?

Don’t worry, they’ll be covered, too. I landed on the name Hard Court because, from my POV, tennis is the hardest sport—demanding not just enormous physical prowess but a level of intellectual stamina (high-Q, as I like to call it) that other sports just don’t. It’s one versus one, there’s no team to fall back on when you’re in play. What’s harder than that?

And who am I?

I’m Jessica Schiffer, a former fashion and beauty journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue Business, Business of Fashion, Time, and more. Bored by that rat race, I made the leap to working in the mental health space and feel much more fulfilled, but it’s tennis that really has my heart.

Tennis was in the air for me growing up, and I wrote about finally falling in love with it on my personal Substack here after chronic pain derailed my best-laid plans and left me with a lot of idle time. It’s no exaggeration to say that the sport saves me daily, a much-needed distraction that thrills and delights (when it’s not breaking my heart).