Tennis as a sport and pastime has always been defined by a certain sense of solitude—you’re forever alone, entirely on your own, out there on the court. There’s no one to save you from the potential abyss of your own thoughts or off-day backhand; no one to keep your feet constantly moving and your racquet hitting all the way through every single ball, except for yourself.
But at the same time, you’re never alone; there’s always someone out there, with you, moving about right across the net, going through similar thoughts and emotions of joy, distress, relief, excitement and wonder. And more often than not, that person is someone that we’ve played against many times before, be they friends, family or hitting partner.
At Palmes, we want tennis to be a driver for spending time with friends and forming new relations while having fun on and off the court. As part of our desire to explore this dynamic, we’re excited to introduce our story series, Hitting With Friends.
For the first edition, we rendezvoused with chef Flynn McGarry and creative Cameron Booth on their local court in Seward Park on New York’s Lower East Side for a match and a pondering about the role that tennis plays in their friendship.
Photography by Lucas Creighton.
How did you each get into tennis?
Cameron: I’d only played tennis very briefly growing up. My grandfather was a lifelong tennis player who played every day through his 80’s, so he always wanted me to get into playing as a kid.
Flynn: Growing up, I played a lot with my dad, but I fell out of it a couple of years ago. But then the pandemic came around and I started playing again.
How did the two of you first start playing tennis together?
Flynn: We’re neighbors and wanted to have a new activity to do as the entire city was shut down during the pandemic. There are some tennis courts a few blocks away from where we both live, so it seemed like a fun thing to do to pass time and get out of the house. Then we ended up getting really into it.
What do you each feel that playing tennis with each other adds to your friendship?
Cameron: We have somewhat similar schedules so it’s not only convenient for us to play together but it also means that we can hold each other accountable for getting out there and playing. It’s so easy to skip out if you’re exercising alone, but having someone counting on you motivates you to be more consistent.
Flynn: Yeah, it’s a great way to push each other to be active. It’s just a fun, healthy way of hanging out with your friends. We always play for a few hours and then eat something after.
How often do you play tennis?
Flynn: I feel like we need to get back in the swing of it again. It used to be once or twice a week, but we’ve been falling behind since everything got busy again as the city reopened.
Cameron: I rarely play with other people than Flynn. I think there’s a shortage of early-riser tennis players in our neighborhood. We try to play together a couple of times a week but yeah, as Flynn mentioned, we definitely have some scheduling improvements to make for sure.
What is the best and most annoying thing about the other's style of play?
Cameron: We both have opposite strong suites. His forehand is superior to mine, but my backhand often wins over his. Otherwise on any given day, our energy levels can be swapped where he has a bunch of energy and I don’t or the other way around.
Flynn: Cam has a great cross-court shot that is very impressive to watch and also very annoying to return.
