Welcome to Bounces!

A new place to write our way through the ups and downs of tennis.

My name is Ben Rothenberg, and I am super excited to welcome you to Bounces!

This will be the new home base for my writing, reporting, insights, and opinions on the world of professional tennis, a beat which I’ve covered for the last dozen years or so.

There’s no shortage of stories in this messy global sport, and I think more stories are being missed than ever before. Here, I hope to be able to bring you stories, reporting, and perspectives you’re not getting anywhere else.

Many of you likely read the recent profile of me in The Washington Post, which focused on the legal fallout of my reporting on domestic violence accusations against a men’s tennis star and my subsequent disillusionment with the machinery of tennis and journalism.

And while there were many parts of that episode that were dispiriting, as well as larger discouraging trends in the wider media landscape, the outpouring of support that followed the article was far more meaningful. On top of the immediate and immense support for my crowdfunding campaign—which reached its goal within 22 hours and kept climbing—what was just as moving were the many notes of solidarity and encouragement I received from readers and journalists urging me to stick with this work.

One of the things I heard often from those who urged me to keep writing about tennis was about how few voices like mine are in the sport. That’s a qualitative judgment—and it could be backhanded compliment from some, who knows—but the quantitative diminishment of tennis media is undeniable; there have been massive changes to the landscape of tennis media in my time covering the sport. The first Grand Slam tournament I covered in person was the 2012 Australian Open. I was there for The New York Times alongside an NYT staff writer and at least eight other American journalists from various independent outlets. At the 2024 Australian Open this past January, I was one of only two American journalists at the tournament. That’s just one metric, but I think it’s indicative of how much what was once a robust, valued part of the tennis ecosystem has eroded, because of both internal and external trends.

Why start Bounces?

I am hopeful that this can be a space to bolster what’s left of independent writing about tennis from further erosion.

One of the things that most excites me about the Substack format is how nimble and spontaneous I can be as a writer on here. As a freelancer, when I have an immediate kernel of an idea for a story, I reach out to a publication and pitch it to an editor I know, wait to hear back, then they reply with their level of interest and if it can fit into their current publication schedule. This process can routinely take hours at best, or days at worst. Here, ideas and stories can bounce to you exponentially quicker.

Another thing having this venture of my own allows for is independence, which I think is crucial for journalistic integrity, and increasingly scarce. Tennis, including tennis media, is famously rife with conflicts of interest. And on the media side, there simply isn’t enough independent work reliably available outside of the places that are increasingly producing a majority of tennis “content”: federations, tours, tournaments, and brands. With enough support from subscribers here, I can continue writing about tennis without accepting work that will create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one. I will be beholden solely to the interest of my readers here at Bounces.

Why “Bounces”?

Well, aside from all the other good tennis terminology being taken by now, I think this name matches both the essence of the sport and what I’m hoping to achieve here. Learning to read the bounces—and adjust to how the ball is suddenly coming at you—is one of the first things any tennis player must learn to do. Some bounces in tennis, and in life, are trickier than others. Unexpected bounces can feel unlucky or unfair. But so long as we’re here, in this match called life, there’s another set of bounces coming soon.

My writing here at Bounces will also bounce around various aspects of the sport and styles of writing. In the decade I wrote for The New York Times, I was lucky enough to often be assigned what editors call “sidebars,” which are the stories that aren’t necessarily the biggest headline of the day but instead are a deeper dive into something a bit more on the periphery. I’m hopeful to find similarly unexpected topics here as well, to complement the more rote tennis coverage elsewhere.

And in terms of tone and style of writing, there will also be lots of room to bounce around. From serious to unserious, reverent to irreverent, unflinching to giggly, there is occasion for all of those modes and more in tennis.

Why subscribe?

Free subscribers will get to read one post a week, available to read on the website here or in your inbox. And hopefully that one post will be pretty good!

Paid subscribers, though, will get everything. There are always going to be at least two posts a week, and hopefully way more than that often, especially during major events in the tennis calendar. There will also be chats, Q&As, and all sorts of other stuff to help build something of a community in this space. One of the coolest things about the online tennis community is being able to speak the common language of the sport we love with other members of this far-flung tribe, so I’m hopeful that this space can become a pretty neato, robust enclave of folks with this shared interest.

Looking forward to bouncing all around the sport and beyond with you folks!

-Ben