6 min read

LAST SUMMER, THERE was a good chance you noticed how horny people were for tennis. Partly thanks to Zendaya and the erotically charged, racquet-smashing boys in Challengers (which premiered last April), the Internet became feverish for the sport. Suddenly, we had influencers and celebrities picking up a racquet for the first time or showing off the forehand they learned as a kid. Then the tennis-core clothing trend exploded, making me seriously consider whether I should purchase a cable-knit sweater. At my neighborhood tennis courts in Brooklyn, the battle to get time on a court felt as intense as a Sinner-Alcaraz matchup.

Come September, the craze manifested at the 2024 US Open, which smashed its attendance record by attracting more than 1 million people to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.…