I started watching tennis in 2009. I didn't know it at the time, but we were at the outset of a golden era in men's tennis. I followed, fascinated, the march forward of seemingly immortal champions—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic—and mere mortals like David Ferrer. I was thrilled when unsung players beat the odds and wrote their own cinderella stories. And then, I witnessed the beginning of the changing of the guard as the "Next Gen," that exceptional crop of players with names as inspiring as their tennis—Rublev, Tsitsipas, Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime or Sinner—surged onto the tennis scene.

Journal of a Tennis Fan is based on notes I took from 2012 to 2020, watching tennis at home or travelling to tournaments. These notes eventually took on a life of their own and morphed into parallel stories spanning nine years and 42 chapters, all about the most captivating characters in men's tennis.