Adrian Brune

London, New York

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Freelance journalist always on the lookout for the untold story. Tennis player. Line judge.

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Articles

Letter from the SoHo Shakespeare pub

1 week ago | open.substack.com | Adrian Brune

Acting! It is a thing the Brits do best. Every personal display is an act, thus meaning that most British people don’t necessary have to go to acting school to become pros. Past generations train future ones to consistently put on a public show of good faith, interest, comedy, feigned tragedy or other.
The Lloyds: Kingmakers of British Tennis

2 weeks ago | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

Before Tim Henman with his hill at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and Andy Murray with the new arena named for him at the Queen’s Club, there was John Lloyd, otherwise known as Mr. Chris Evert. But while the luminaries of the sport were busy racking up their wins, John Lloyd got busy acquiring stories for his punditry and resources for his power over the LTA.
La saison sur "terre battue" ends

3 weeks ago | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

For the first 22 (1897 to 1924, aside from World War II) years of its existence, French women dominated the French Open, sort of like the Brits cleaned up at Wimbledon and the Yanks dominated the U.S. Open. But in the Open era (Since 1968), only one tenacious French woman had victory belong to her: Mary Pierce, and technically, she was from Canada.
Joseph Oyebog: A Cameroonian Tennis Hero, RIP

4 weeks ago | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

Arthur Ashe may still be the most well-known African-American player and Civil Rights activist for crashing the Apartheid-sponsored South African Open in the early 1970s. Still, nothing — neither Ashe’s press conferences, nor his grandstanding — did more for French or African tennis than Ashe’s spotting of a 10-year-old Yannick Noah whacking tennis balls with a homemade racquet against the wall at the Tennis Club de Yaoundé Cameroon.
Wild Things at 14th Street

1 month ago | undergroundart.substack.com | Adrian Brune

The 14th street subway station — not one of the Original 28, but among the city’s oldest — has needed a bit of a facelift for quite a long time, its Squire Vickers-designed walls caked in century-old brake dust, among other New York subway gross stuff. However, the preservation of these classic stations does not fall under the remit of the MTA Arts & Design program. Nope.
Hailey Baptiste, Her Humble Origins + Great Prospects

1 month ago | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

In the summer of 2020, everyone was struggling, but the professional tennis players on tour — whether ATP/WTA Professional or Challengers or the ITF Futures (the minor, journeyman leagues of tennis) — were struggling. Their events were cancelled; courts at clubs and even in public parks were closed; and travel without a $80 Covid test and heightened restrictions proved nearly impossible.
Letter from The Virgin Queen pub + A Personal Essay about Greed + Humanity

1 month ago | londonletter.substack.com | Adrian Brune

This is not the first iteration of this faux-Tudor pub near Broadway Market, bridging the growing gap between the hipsterness of Hackney and Shorditch. But the Virgin Queen is possibly the most appropos name and setting for this East London local. And it attracts both highbrow and commoners.
Trading the Sand for Dirt

1 month ago | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

Does the world really need another book about Rafael Nadal, I thought to myself as I saw that The Master tennis writer Christopher Clarey, formerly of the New York Times, would be releasing his second book about number two of the big three: The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clayjust three years from writing his pièce de résistance about Roger Federer.
The Shakespeare's Head + the New World Order

2 months ago | londonletter.substack.com | Adrian Brune

The words have slowed to a trickle these days. Like a tap that is clogged with debris — nothing seems to want trickle out If an editor put a gun to my head now and said “I want 3,000 words on your favorite story that you have been pitching for five years,” I’m not sure I could even pull it out of me. But first, the pub of the month. The Shakespeare Head isn’t Victorian or ornate or plate-glass beautiful or really unique, except — and this is what I love about it — it doesn’t try to be.
Change Afoot Amid Miami Open

Mar 25, 2025 | therallyreport.substack.com | Adrian Brune

It was the thud heard round the world as the 163-page document hit the docket on March 18 in the United States District Court in Southern New York against the four main bodies of tennis, followed by a back-spin drop shot two days later, which prevents those associations from speaking to any players they represent.