No Challenges Remaining

Ben and Courtney were so excited to talk about the U.S. Open that their rambles ended up as two different episodes. Here’s Episode 16a, wherein Ben recaps his experience covering the Open and we talk about Serena WIlliams and Andy Murray’s championship runs, our favorite matches, best performances, Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters’ farewells, Laura Robson’s breakthrough run, and Victoria Azarenka’s...

“I have never cuddled with Rory McIlroy.” Guess which NCR’er said that. Ben and Courtney meet up in Mason, Ohio for the Western & Southern Open. Pardon us if we’re a little punchy. We weren’t exaggerating about the Applebees action. (Courtney’s note — Is it just me or is Ben WAY BETTER live rather than on Skype?) Talking Roger Federer dominance, the continued solidness of Angelique Kerber, Jelena...

On Episode 14, Ben and Courtney breakdown what happened during the tennis event at the Olympics where Andy Murray and Serena Williams did some pretty good things. We discuss the best-of-three format at the Olympics, tiebreaks, and seriously, why the heck was Ryan Harrison apologizing?

We have neglected you. For that, we apologize. But to quote the Olympic motto: “Better late than never!”* Ben and Courtney were Stateside for the London Olympics and they were really excited. Mainly for the break from live tennis. Courtney talks about her Cali Swag at Stanford and San Diego, and Ben gets a chance to talk about one of his favorite things in the world, World Team Tennis. They also d...

After a long hiatus (we would apologize but it’s starting to sound like a broken record), Ben and Courtney return to discuss the happenings at Wimbledon. It’s a post-Rosol world now, where anything is possible, everyone believes, and the upsets keep raining down like…well…London rain. We talk about everything from the (unnecessary) equal prize money debate, the earthquake that was Lukas Rosol, Bri...

Ok, let’s get this out of the way: the audio quality on Episode 10 is not great. But what it lacks in aural clarity it more than makes up for in content quality. Ben and Courtney touch base after Week 1 of the French Open to talk about the first week happenings, the second week’s predictions, and a bunch of ancillary topics including the television commentary so far, Hawk-Eye on clay, the State of...

Are you ready for the French Open? I assure you we are not. Ben and Courtney reconvene for a quick chat in advance of the French Open, and recap what’s happened in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome as the ladies and gentlemen of tennis slid, whined, won, and threw barbs throughout the clay season. We talk about our favorites and not-so-favorites going into Roland Garros, the ever-entertaining war both o...

When it rains, it pours. Here’s another bite-sized lost episode that Ben and Courtney recorded while they pretended that the NHL hockey playoffs were just as important — if not more so — than tennis. R&R the No Challenges Remaining way, folks. In Episode 8b, we Ben and Courtney discuss the loss of American tournaments to South America, tennis humblebraggers, the difficulty of writing about anyone...

We’re baaaaaaaaack. Much like the American men, Illness, injury, and fatigue kept Ben and Courtney silent for much of the European clay court season. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t take the time out to chat. Ben has done a masterful job piecing together the still-relevant bits of the two podcasts we recorded that, unfortunately, never got posted. In Episode 8a, we Take a Number and answer questio...

Ben and Courtney are enjoying the southern comforts of Charleston, South Carolina this week, at the 40th rendition of the Family Circle Cup. But before play gets out of control, we found a quiet spot under Stadium Court to talk about what we learned from Miami, how the first quarter of the season has met (or hasn’t met) expectations, and some of the storylines developing as we head into the Season...

Ben and Courtney recap the action in Miami, where up until an hour ago, the women of the WTA offered the more compelling storyline (Rafael Nadal has since withdrawn from the tournament due to a left knee injury). We talk about Venus Williams’ incredible comeback to competitive tennis, why Marion Bartoli was the perfect woman to end Victoria Azarenka’s 26-0 streak, and the complete Fish flop that l...

Ben and Courtney go bi-coastal for Episode 5, as Ben headed to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open and Courtney returned home to stare at a livescore window. We lay down our final observations from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, share some press room stories, shoot a side-glare at Michael Llodra, rationalize the lack of early round television coverage, and preview the upcoming tournament in Mi...

Episode 4 was struck down by the crippling stomach virus that is spreading around the Coachella Valley, so Ben and Courtney, who are both in Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open, reconvened to discuss what’s happened so far and what we look forward to during the business end of the tournament. We talk about Mardy Fish and Petra Kvitova’s early dismissals, the beautiful grounds at Indian Wells, an...

On this week’s episode, Ben and Courtney recap last week’s play in Dubai, Rotterdam, San Jose, and the NCAA Indoor Team Championships in Charlottesville. We also talk about Victoria Azarenka’s winning streak, contracting a tough case of Milos Fever, the two sides of Roddick’s coin, and Rodney Dangerfield, er….we mean Caroline Wozniacki’s response to Martina Navratilova’s comments. Finally, Courtne...

Introducing the debut episode of No Challenges Remaining, a podcast designed with nothing in mind other than to talk about tennis. In the first episode, Ben Rothenberg and Courtney Nguyen talk about the Americans’ beatdown of Switzerland in Davis Cup, Great Britain winning all four Slams in the span of two weeks (at least we assume that’s what happened based on the media coverage), Caroline Woznia...