Game Set Match: The Tennis Romance You Need to Read with Jennifer Iacopelli

From What to Read Next Podcast l Book Recommendation Show by Laura R Yamin

June 3, 2026 · 32 min

About this episode

Laura R Yamin interviews Jennifer Iacopelli about her tennis romance novels and the journey of sports romance in publishing.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you've been sleeping on sports romance, this episode is your wake-up call. Tennis romance is officially having its moment in publishing — and the author who was writing it a decade before anyone else is finally getting her flowers. In this episode, Laura chats with Jennifer Iacopelli, author of Game Set Match and its sequel Wild Card — new adult tennis romances newly re-released through Little Brown's Requited imprint after Jennifer's YA novel Finding Her Edge was adapted into a Netflix series. They dig into Jennifer's 15-year publishing journey, the ensemble cast storytelling structure of the Game Set Match series, the road from canceled Olympics to Netflix, and why tennis provides the perfect natural force-proximity setup for romance. Plus, Jennifer shares her top sports romance recs (including a few you can grab right now) and a YA F1 romance that's coming in 2027 that you'll want to add to your TBR immediately. Perfect for fans of Challengers , sports romance, and anyone who loves a resilience arc — in fiction and in real life. 📚 Books Mentioned Game Set Match by…

People in this episode

Host: Laura R Yamin

Guest: Jennifer Iacopelli

Topics covered

sports romance
tennis
publishing journey
natural force-proximity
young adult fiction
resilience arc

Keywords

tennis romance
sports romance
new adult
publishing
Netflix adaptation
book recommendations
resilience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Little Brown's Requited imprint

Books & works: Game Set Match, Wild Card, Finding Her Edge, Challengers