Articles Written By Nic Brown

Nic Brown is the author of the novel Doubles and the story collection Floodmarkers. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Harvard Review, and Epoch, among many other publications. He is currently the John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi.

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The Tennis Handsomes

Some Sunny Day
by Nic Brown
At the time, Roddick was the latest in a long line of American tennis players extending our global dominance, stretching at that point from Connors to McEnroe to Chang to...
The Tennis Handsomes

Hang on Till Tomorrow
by Nic Brown
The rain moved in bands across the blue hardcourt like a firehouse had been trained on it. It was sudden and vicious and definitively the weather of summer. But the...
The Tennis Handsomes

All the Children Singing
by Nic Brown
Could do well Yesterday, when 20-year-old Louisiana hothead Ryan Harrison ran into a TV camera while losing his first round match in Cincinnati, he said, “Get the fricking TVs...
The Tennis Handsomes

Where the Air Is Sweet
by Nic Brown
The major stuff I watch too, and weeks like this past one are as good as any. The Olympics satisfied all my blockbuster tennis needs, while the Citi Open in...
The Tennis Handsomes

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Open
by Nic Brown
London isn’t the only site of play that has gotten a little odd. Because the top few tennis players from each country are in London for the games,...
The Tennis Handsomes

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
by Nic Brown
They’re all here, and it makes things like this happen: This week, teenage Jack Sock (back, finally, after a groin injury) lost in an American dream quarterfinal in...
The Tennis Handsomes

Watch Out, the World’s Behind You
by Nic Brown
Even if we’re just interested in the top couple hundred tennis players in the world, it raises the question: Where were the other 198 players yesterday? Most of them...
The Tennis Handsomes

Bleak House
by Nic Brown
Our young heroes’ current standings are low: Melanie Oudin lost her first match; Donald Young lost his first match; John Inser lost his first match; Ryan Harrison lost his...
The Tennis Handsomes

Hello Daddy, Hello Mom
by Nic Brown
She did not qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon this year because of her terrible play over the last three years (she peaked at No. 30 in the world after...
The Tennis Handsomes

Fresh Meat
by Nic Brown
Let us start with big goofy Sam Querrey, who made it to the semis on the grass courts at Queens. What a run, after doing almost nothing all year other...
The Tennis Handsomes

Smash It Up
by Nic Brown
With our American men, the pickings are slim. Of the two Association of Tennis Professionals grass court events this week (Queen’s Club and Halle), only four American men...
The Tennis Handsomes

Catching Fire
by Nic Brown
Women’s Tennis Association officials across the country are right now placing Sloane Stephens icons on secret altars to the gods of the Next Big Thing. She’s...