Wow. This book, to me as an avid queer tennis fan, absolutely smashed it out of the tennis court, so to speak. I could tell this was a labor of love from someone who has a deep fondness for this sport. The exploration of the psyche required to make it in tennis was so well-done, and coupled with the journey of self-discovery and courage to be yourself in a sport that largely doesn’t platform or embrace players that are LGBTQIA+. The characters were crafted in such a way that they leapt to life from the page, and I could tell Vellner also took great care in each of their stories and being absolutely certain the cast was diverse. Diversity in tennis is what makes tennis a beautiful, exciting sport to watch, and Vellner delivered a vivid, tense, and memorable novel that will endure in this tennis they/them’s memory for a long, long time. If there’s anything else that could be taken away from this wonderful novel, it’s that holding our own as queer people is absolutely imperative for not only our own detriment, but to the detriment of the generations of LGBTQIA+ folk that are following in our footsteps.