No Challenges Remaining

It wasn't the newsiest Round 2 at this Australian Open until near the end, and once all the drama had died down Ben  and  Tumaini got together to discuss the sudden moments at the finish line. While Belinda Bencic exited to talented Czech teen Nikola Bartunkova, Naomi Osaka stayed in the talk with a testy finish against Sorana Cirstea. On the men's side, Stan Wawrinka showed his staying power, win...

With the first round of the Australian Open main draw finally complete, Ben  and  Tumaini got together to discuss some of the biggest moments and stories. We discussed the women first, starting with Naomi Osaka's big fashion moment (and her interview with Ben ), the tournament's failure to supply seats to meet the massive crowd demand for Alexandra Eala , the impressions Oleksandra Oliynykova made...

Back together in Melbourne for one of their favorite occasions in tennis, Ben  and  Tumaini jumped on the chance to record a show about the second edition of their beloved "1 Point Slam," the pre-Australian Open event which they fell in love with a year ago. We discuss this year's bigger and--often--better event, the strong play by the WTA players in particular, and the surprise finalists. What ma...

In an episode that was already released as a video yesterday for our Patreon backers ,  Ben  and  Tumaini kick off Season 15(!) of No Challenges Remaining from opposite sides of the globe. Tumaini talks about the start to the season so far in far-flung Perth, which includes injury issues plaguing Brits at the United Cup.  We then discuss some of the biggest headlines from recent weeks: the Battle...

After coming out last week in video for on the NCR Patreon and Bounces , it's a delight to bring listeners Ben's chat with Mary Carillo on the occasion of her getting voted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Ben and Mary discuss Mary's trademark honesty, her committed avoidance of social media, and much more.  Mary's a longtime NCR favorite, and we are very happy for her and delighted to...

In another episode that was already released as a video overnight for our Patreon backers , Ben  and  Tumaini wrap up what was a very busy Saturday in the world of tennis, including three simultaneous finals. We start with the WTA Finals in Riyadh, where Elena Rybakina won a very high-quality, high-level tournament that still looked small. How is the WTA going in Saudi Arabia after two years? Shou...

In an annual post-marathon tradition, Ben  and  Ricky Dimon catch up on the world of men's tennis, both recent news and the overall stories of this 2025 season that is nearing its conclusion.  We start with the big news from the ATP, who have announced that a new, 10th Masters 1000 event will be added to the calendar win a few years . With complaints about the schedule rampant, what do we make of...

In an episode that was released as a video overnight for our Patreon backers ,  Ben  and  Tumaini catch up on the happenings of the tennis tours in China, including 204th-ranked Valentin Vacherot somehow winning ATP 1000 Shanghai, beating his first cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the title. Is it the most shocking title we can recall? We also discuss Zverev's much-mocked complaints about surfaces bei...

Ben sits down with author  Giri Nathan for this episode, to go deep into his new book, Changeover, and the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry at its focus.  This episode was recorded during the U.S. Open, but these two players remain the overwhelmingly obvious story in men's tennis, including this week as Sinner won Beijing while Alcaraz won Tokyo.  We discuss the process of writing this book--which hopefully...

Ben  and  Tumaini , eventually joined by Giri Nathan , discuss the ending of this 2025 U.S. Open, which concluded with Carlos Alcaraz dominating Jannik Sinner in a four-set victory to complete their third major final of the year. How much better is Alcaraz right now in this match-up? And what did Sinner reveal in his press conference during our intermission. We also discuss the elephant in the roo...

Ben  and  Tumaini check back in after the most-hyped match of this U.S. Open so far, in which Naomi Osaka soundly beat Coco Gauff to make it into her first major quarterfinal in more than four years. We discuss that match as well as the rest of the women's draw, including the Krejcikova-Townsend epic, and then turn to the men, in which Djokovic-Fritz is an intriguing match before what looks like (...

It's a whistlestop episode for Ben  and  Tumaini , who had a train to catch late Friday night at the U.S. Open. We have a lot to catch up on, including the firestorm created by the Townsend-Ostapenko match and why that hit such a cultural nerve, the bizarre mess of a scene at Iga Swiatek's press conference (which the USTA deleted from the record), Altmaier's avoidance of Tsitsipas' drama, chatter...

Scuttling previous plans, Ben  and  Tumaini are together once more for a bit of an emergency episode on the wild shitshow which Daniil Medvedev delivered on Sunday at the US Open, exacerbating a long delay when down match point to Benjamin Bonzi which dramatically turned the match, only for Bonzi to win in five. We discuss the surreal scenes, the mistakes made by pretty much every party involved,...

Reuniting where they first met 15 years ago, Ben is delighted to have Courtney back on NCR once more for this episode, catching up on what's happened for her this year and what she currently has in the works as she rejoined the tour this month. We discuss the end of Courtney's time at the WTA, what she's been doing in the months since, and how she got started with the new project she's been workin...

Ben is joined by Ava Wallace of The Washington Post to discuss their hometown tournament in DC, and how this place still manages to charm and shine as a uniquely accessible and diverse place on tour despite the challenges of a rusting stadium. We discuss the big players this week as well, including the impressive comeback of Venus Williams , local hope Hailey Baptiste, and top American men Frances...

Ben  and  Tumaini are joined for their Wimbledon finals show by Giri Nathan , who literally wrote the book on the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry that featured its latest chapter in the Wimbledon final.  Before discussing Sinner and Alcaraz and their continuing takeover—and Sinner finally getting another win in his column—we start with the women's final, in which Iga Swiatek blanked Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6...

Ben  and  Tumaini , on the mic once more together, recap the business end of Wimbledon, where one final is already set on the women's side and two blockbuster semifinals are set for the men.  We start with the women's side, on which Amanda Anisimova is making her first major final after beating Aryna Sabalenka (who had herself a much more composed press conference this time). We then discuss, to T...

Ben is joined for the final time during this Wimbledon by Ricky Dimon , to discuss the fourth round matches that were played and how the quarterfinals and beyond are shaping up. We start with the bleakest moment in recent tennis memory, when Grigor Dimitrov was up two sets to none on an injured Jannik Sinner, only to suffer his own sudden acute pectoral injury and be forced to retire mid-match for...

Ben is back with Ricky Dimon to discuss a third round at Wimbledon that was much less tumultuous than the previous two rounds, and the second week outlook for the tournament that it set up. On the women's side, is it Sabalenka or the field? And is the men's side still looking like likely chalk of Sinner-Djokovic and Fritz-Alcaraz semifinals? Thank you for listening!  Our Patreon is back up and run...

Ben is joined once more by Ricky Dimon to catch up on the further upsets in the second round of Wimbledon after the carnage in the opening round, and to set up third round clashes. We start with Jack Draper, the local hope who was bundled out by 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic. We then wrap up the rest of the men, including exits for Americans Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul, and look for what could be i...

After an unexpectedly tumultuous two days at Wimbledon,  Ben is joined by Ricky Dimon to discuss the record number of upsets from the first round of Wimbledon, in which 23 seeds lost their first match, including some big names. Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and more were all sent packing in various ways, and we discuss the short and long term fallouts.  Thank you fo...

Something different and pretty cool this time: 50 years ago at Wimbledon, the two singles champions were two of the biggest pioneers in tennis history: Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. It was also the first of many Wimbledons covered by then-young Canadian tennis journalist Tom Tebbutt , and he made a radio documentary for the CBC of a remarkable breadth of voices from around the tournament, from...

[Reuploaded to fix what was an incomplete file on some podcast platforms the last time!] Ben  and  Tumaini , on the mic one last time from their house in Paris, are fresh off two thrilling finals at Roland Garros. We start with the just-ended men's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which produced some of the best tennis ever seen after a five-hour mark. What made this match so good?...

Ben  and  Tumaini , on the mic one last time from their house in Paris, are fresh off two thrilling finals at Roland Garros. We start with the just-ended men's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which produced some of the best tennis ever seen after a five-hour mark. What made this match so good? And was it too long or just right?  We then get to the women's final, in which Coco Gauff...

Ben  and  Tumaini , together again, are back to wrap up the quarterfinals and look ahead to the semifinals for both the men and women at Roland Garros. We start with the women, where a too-close-to-call Sabalenka-Swiatek semifinal is set, and super-surprise Lois Boisson might just be playing well enough to keep her strong form going against Coco Gauff? We then shift to the men, where a Sinner-Alca...