As a collector of phrases (well-turned and otherwise), it seemed that “Tennis, anyone?” had grown especially rusty (“Tetanus, anyone?”) and was overdue for a glow-up. The venerable OED described the expression as “a typical entrance or exit line given to a young man in a superficial drawing-room comedy.” Ouch.

No matter, the opportunity to contemporize the phrase with a modern, egalitarian sensibility presented itself with a cover story in the Pacific Sun (a paper for which I’m editor) about local tennis coach Brent Zeller’s mission to take the sense of competition out of the game and replace it with enjoyment for all. And just like that, the perfect headline came to me — the match point just waiting to be lobbed over the net — “Tennis, Everyone?”

My work here is done.