No Challenges Remaining

It's our Season 6 premiere! This is our 217th episode, and golly do Ben and Courtney have lots to reflect on before we get started with 2017. Time to look back to move forward. First, we look back at the career and legacy of Ana Ivanovic, who played excellent tennis at times and was a joy to be around always. We discuss the role she plays in our separate and joint tennis origin stories, and what m...

After recording the show earlier this week, Ben and Courtney shelved it and then retopped it to address the shocking news of the knife attack which wounded Petra Kvitova's left hand. We discuss the implications it will have, then move on to the main part of the show, which is all of your wonderful (and very varied) Kickstarter questions. From Djokovic to doubles to dissolving countries, we touch '...

  With the off-season upon us, Ben and Courtney curl up into their mailbag of questions and use it to keep warm through the winter, while at the same time answering its contents to share the warmth of tennis to all who listen. Gosh I hope no one read that paragraph, it was not our best. Questions come from all sides on general tennis topics such as: Legacy padding! Bro Culture! Sustaining fledglin...

The tennis season, save for that pesky Davis Cup final, is finally over, and so Ben and Courtney digest it (before the heavier duty digestion of Thanksgiving) by discussing who the men's player of the year should be. Andy Murray is the year-end #1 after winning London, but there's a sturdy case to be made for Novak Djokovic, too. Speaking of Thanksgiving, Ben and Courtney then serve themselves hea...

The world has undergone some changes since Ben and Courtney last spoke. Firstly, as this is a tennis show, we guess, we discuss new ATP #1 Andy Murray, what his ascendancy to the top of the rankings means for his career and legacy, and also how alarmed/confused we should be about Novak Djokovic's slide and his enlistment of an unorthodox spiritual advisor. Also, we briefly wrap up Courtney's trip...

After a WTA-centric episode last time, Ben catches up on the ATP side of the equation this week with special guest  Ricky Dimon , fresh off his running the Marine Corps Marathon this past weekend in Washington. After a brief contemplation of the round-robin format after another champion in Singapore went 1-2 in group play, we dive into how this unusual (and underwhelming?) season of men's tennis i...

With the WTA season wrapping up in Singapore this week, there's no better time to check in with women's tennis boss Steve Simon, who is finishing up his first full year as the tour's chief executive. It's been a turbulent year in tennis, at times, but Simon also made waves of his own this fall by expressing interest in revamping the tennis scoring system to shorten singles matches, including elimi...

Ben and Courtney are reunited at last, and have lots to catch up on. First, how is WTAsia doing? What to be made of Kerber's underwhelming fall swing, and Serena's (again) nonexistant one?  Also, we discuss Djokovic's increasingly worrying malaise, Kyrgios' finally cracked down upon tanking, and whether or not players should discuss politics.  Lastly, the highs and lows of air travel. And as alway...

NCR is back after an unforeseen delay (our apologies), and we start by catching up with the conclusion of the Maria Sharapova meldonium case, as Ben welcomes back guest Richard Ings, who had previously discussed Sharapova's positive test with us back  on Episode 145A  when she announced it back in March. What have we learned over the course of this case? How much should this affect Sharapova's rep...

With the Istanbul final between Tunisian Malek Jaziri and Israeli Dudi Sela on Sunday, the cross-section of religion and tennis again came into focus this week. To look at it from several angles this week, we welcome three guests: Israeli Jew  Shahar Peer , American Catholic  Tim Smyczek , and Pakistani Muslim  Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi , about how their respective faiths (and sometimes their intertwin...

Recording late the night after the U.S. Open concluded, Ben and Courtney are low on energy (and occasionally coherence) but high on thoughts about the tennis that transpired, and the two parallel champions who emerged in Angelique Kerber and Stan Wawrinka. Can their every(wo)manness inspire the rest of the tour? And will Kerber be able to hang onto the #1 spot for the rest of the year, or can Sere...

The finals of the U.S. Open are upon us, and so Ben and Courtney discuss what we can look for and how we got here. On the men's side (for which we are joined by the emerald of our eye,  Leigh Walsh ), we start with a contemplation of Gael Monfils, and the tactics (tanking?) that drew so much ire in his semifinal performance against Djokovic. Speaking of Djokovic, everybody seems to think he's goin...

The U.S. Open is proud to have been a leader in gender equality in terms of prize money (and it's the only Slam with the same number of male and female competitors), but how does that translate to the press room?  Carl Bialik  of FiveThirtyEight joins Ben and Courtney to discuss  his analysis  of the data regarding this, and our pal  Carole Bouchard , quoted in the article, also weighs in. And as...

With pudding and beer in hand, Ben and Courtney wrap up their main thoughts from a first week of the U.S. Open that mostly went without major disruption. Raonic, Kyrgios, Cilic and Muguruza being out is surprising, as is Caroline Wozniacki and Anastasija Sevastova being in. But mostly, it's business as expected, which should set up for a grand second week. We hope.  Also, there's a roof and it mak...

The first few rounds of the U.S. Open are in the books, and most of the stars have advanced. But they've advanced past the tennis cavalry of the sport--lovingly known by our guest Andrew as the Foot Soldiers of Tennis . Paolo Lorenzi has become the prototype for such effort without reward--until now. As he's made it into the third round of the U.S. Open, we'd thought it would be a fitting time to...

The year's final grand slam event is upon us, and Ben and Courtney are ready with their draws to break down the who and how of this US Open.  There are surprising champions in Cincinnati to review (Marin Cilic and Karolina Pliskova) to mull over, shaky #1s to evaluate (Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams), and increasingly steady anchors at the bottom of each draw (Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber)...

Olympic tennis produced one of its most stunning results with Monica Puig winning gold, and so  Ben   nd  Courtney  are here to break that down, as well as all the other medals and losers in Rio. What does Monica's win show us about Olympic tennis, and what does it mean for her going forward? How delightful were the silver efforts of Juan Martin del Potro and Venus Williams? And why weren't many o...

After one round of action in Rio there are already some big tennis upsets in the books, so Ben and Courtney raced to their microphones to discuss. Firstly, Juan Martin del Potro stunned Novak Djokovic in straight sets, upending the tournament. This was shocking, even if it was a match to watch, and we explain why. Does Djokovic's reaction show the gravity of the Olympics? And how about those doubl...

Roger Federer is out for the rest of the 2016 season, so Ben, Courtney, and Kickstarting guest producer/host  Ashish Malhotra  talk about what it means for his future, his present, and the rest of the year's tennis. Then, with the Olympics fast approaching, are players ready or anxiously awaiting? The answers vary and surprise. Ben then chats with 37-year-old  Ivo Karlovic , who won Newport and re...

The week after Wimbledon featured an unexpected bump of news--namely, pregnancy concerns both future and present. Firstly, Victoria Azarenka announced that she is expecting a baby and will miss the rest of the season. What kind of impact will this have on the rest of the WTA season, all of which will take place on the hardcourts which Vika has dominated? Next, Zika fears have been cited as the rea...

It was a Wimbledon with two worthy champions, Serena Williams and Andy Murray, and two worthy finalists in Angelique Kerber and Milos Raonic who delivered finals of varying levels of entertainingness. First on the women: how much was this win about Serena finally overcoming the Vinci shock, as Patrick Mouratoglou said? And how did Kerber change her legacy? On the men, why did the final seem so fla...

After the Wimbledon quarterfinals have wrapped up for both the men and women at Wimbledon, Ben is joined by two lovely guests, tennis historian  Steve Flink  of TennisChannel.com and Australian Tennis Magazine's  Matt Trollope , to discuss the past and future.  How much will Roger Federer's epic win over Marin Cilic take out of him heading into the semifinals against Milos Raonic? And will Andy Mu...

On his way to a calendar slam that many considered as likely as not, Novak Djokovic ran into the indomitable Sam Querrey. Yes, that happened. Ben and Courtney discuss the stunning win, both from a perspective of Novak's understandable letdown and Querrey's unlikely casting in this role, despite his undeniable talent and weapons.  Also, an update on the rest of rain-soaked play, and the all importa...

It's been a rainy start to Wimbledon, but there isn't deja vu to the Paris misery just yet, in large part because of the delightful story of #772 Marcus Willis, who won seven matches to win a trophy of sorts: a chance to face Roger Federer on Centre Court. It was the best sort of sports story, and it brightened an already rainy first week. To talk about the remarkable rise of  the man known as "Ca...

The grass is ready for Wimbledon, and so are Ben and Courtney for this draw preview show! First, the dudes. Who are the stumbling blocks for Novak Djokovic as he aims for a *fifth* straight Grand Slam title? Is Federer ready to be a threat? How are Dominic Thiem's chances of sustaining momentum? And what did the Brits, bar Murray, do to deserve such brutal draws? For the ladies, it's Serena vs the...