No Challenges Remaining

Just back from the desert, Ben chats with David Avakian about the weeks that were at Indian Wells, with culminated in a surprise triumph for Taylor Fritz over Rafael Nadal, and an increasingly expected victory for Iga Swiatek, over Maria Sakkari. For the men, we discuss Fritz and where American men's tennis is at globally right now, what lies ahead for Nadal and the field, Kyrgios' strong run and...

(Reuploading this episode as a duplicate because of issues with iTunes and Apple Podcasts services) With war suddenly raging in Ukraine after Russia's invasion, Ben is joined on this episode by  Dayana Yastremska , the 21-year-old WTA player who had to flee her hometown of Odessa, Ukraine, after the bombs began dropping on her city. Yastremska tells her journey of escaping via boat to Romania alon...

With war suddenly raging in Ukraine after Russia's invasion, Ben is joined on this episode by Dayana Yastremska , the 21-year-old WTA player who had to flee her hometown of Odessa, Ukraine, after the bombs began dropping on her city. Yastremska tells her journey of escaping via boat to Romania alongside her 15-year-old sister, her attempts to focus on tennis this week at a WTA tournament in Lyon,...

Acapulco has turned into one of the biggest tennis destinations on the ATP calendar, and our buddy Mike Cation is there this week, checking in on a week of festive fun, new highs, and distressing lows. We discuss the atmosphere at this unique resort, night-time event, the wild day Stefan Kozlov had that contributed to the latest finish in ATP history, the violent outburst that got Alexander Zverev...

Ben is joined by NCR's intrepid Middle East and North Africa correspondent Reem Abulleil to discuss the tennis happening in Dubai this month, where she enjoyed more access to players than she has been able to get at any time before since the pandemic began. Reem discusses the women's week that was in Dubai, starting with her interview with Danielle Collins and Collins' mentor , and then Jelena Ost...

With Juan Martín del Potro playing what is set to be the last match of his career last week in Buenos Aires, Ben and Courtney reflect on the career of the gentle giant who had an outsized presence and popularity in the sport to match his enormous on-court gifts. Ben then has a longer chat with Alfredo Bernardi, a longtime Argentine tennis correspondent who closely followed Delpo's career from its...

The stormy lead-up to the Australian Open ended with two great resplendent victories, with Ash Barty becoming the first Aussie champ in Melbourne in four decades, and Rafael Nadal winning just his second Australian Open to win a record 21st Grand Slam men's singles title. On Barty, we discuss her win, the catharsis after a lack of tension, parallels to Andy Murray, and how the field could try to d...

Ben and Tumaini Carayol are back to discuss the four women and four men still in contention to win this Australian Open, which has held up to set up for some surprisingly unsurprising semifinals. On the women's side, can anyone derail Ash Barty, or even approach the dimension of her game? How much has the heat been a factor in the success of Madison Keys and Danielle Collins? And what is Iga Swiat...

Now that the Djokovic debacle has ended and the tennis has begun, Ben and Tumaini Carayol wrap up the big stories of the first week of the Australian Open. What did we see from Naomi Osaka in how she won and in how she handled defeat? How did Emma Raducanu manage to slice her way into Romanian hearts? Can anyone stop Barty and Medvedev? Thank you again for the incredible support for NCR we've rece...

The Djokovic deportation drama dragged deliriously Down Under, feeling a whole 'nother Grand Slam's worth of drama and intrigue before finally resolving itself on Sunday with a panel of judges upholding a second deportation order and sending Djokovic on a flight out of Australia soon after. Paul Sakkal , whose coverage of the political sides of this story has been extraordinarily insightful, and w...

Ben and Courtney(!) know that a whole lot else has been going on in the world of tennis, but now that Novak Djokovic is on a plane out of Australia (which wasn't yet settled when we recorded), the coast is clear to talk about the draws ahead for the year's first Grand Slam. How is Ash Barty's ambition clearer than before, and will that eagerly awaited match with Naomi Osaka happen? How do last yea...

Novak Djokovic's Australian Open fate changed drastically while he was up in the air during the recording of our last episode, but luckily for us Paul Sakkal, Victoria Political reporter for The Age, is here to break everything down with incredible knowledge, depth and detail. What went wrong with Novak Djokovic between his exemption being granted by Tennis Australia panels and then his being reje...

Ben and Tumaini Carayol reunite in Melbourne's newest arena (which could have better acoustics, sorry) to discuss the great vibes at the tournament, and the news which harshed them considerably. Novak Djokovic's announcement that he had received a medical exemption which would allow him to play the Australian Open without the required coronavirus vaccination. This has caused considerable anger in...

Ben is rejoined by NCR's Middle East and North Africa correspondent Reem Abulleil for a discussion of the very late and fairly busy finish to the tennis season, which went into December and will have less than a month of full off-season before resuming again in 2022. We discuss the new Davis Cup format and the good vibes on the winning Russian team, led by mascot Andrey Rublev, as well as the nega...

After the WTA backed up its strong talk by suspending all of its tournaments in China because of the continued censorship of Peng Shuai, Ben is joined by Human Rights Watch's Senior China Researcher Yaqiu Wang to discuss how Peng's case fits into the wider landscape of issues in China.   What made the WTA's stance so unique? How should we see the International Olympic Committee's solidarity with C...

Ben is joined by The Guardian's Tumaini Carayol to discuss the fallout of the accusations made by Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai against a senior government official, the WTA's strong stance, and the impact on tennis in China going forward. Was the WTA's partnership with China always doomed to fail, as Tumaini predicted in 2019 ? And what would a reset of the tour without China look like for the...

Ben and David Avakian are delighted to bring you an NCR Movie Club installment on what is set to be the biggest tennis movie in a long time, and perhaps ever: KING RICHARD, which stars Will Smith as Richard Williams and shows his early journey raising Venus and Serena into perhaps the greatest story in tennis history. The movie comes out on November 19, so if you want to hold off listening until t...

The first edition of the Billie Jean King Cup (née Fed Cup) is happening this week, and so Ben is joined by the German reporter Jannik Schneider, who was there in Prague covering the event. We discuss how the event's atmosphere and organization has been, the impact of Billie Jean King's legacy on the competition, and why Russia is doing business as "RTF" at the event.  We also discuss how the accu...

There's been batches of backroom brouhahas brewing this year in tennis as the sport continues to be in a moment of flux and transition during the pandemic. To make sense of the landscape, Ben is joined by Sports Business Journal's Bret McCormick , who discusses his reporting on many issues. Could changes to the calendar made because of the pandemic become long-term shifts? How are the men's and wo...

Nearly a year after Olga Sharypova publicly accused tennis star Alexander Zverev of repeated physical and emotional abuse during their relationship, the ATP announced this week that it is opening an investigation into (one of the) accusations, which Zverev has repeatedly denied in blanket terms. Ben, who has interviewed Sharypova and investigated the story for both Racquet and Slate , is joined by...

The tennis map has been redrawn this year as the world continues shifting during the pandemic, bringing the tours to many new stops that it previously left out. This has included many major American cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and San Diego, where there was a first-ever ATP event this week. Dani Vallverdu , managing director of the new San Diego Open, joins Ben to discuss what it took to ma...

On this episode, Ben chats with Lewis Simmons, creator of the TNNS Live app , who has helped fill the void left by the sudden disappearance of the simple but essential ATP-WTA live score mobile app last year, which left many tennis fans and followers marooned without the compass they'd used to navigate the tennis tours for about a decade. We discuss the chasm left by the old app's departure, tryin...

Ben and Courtney begin "Boys' Time!" at the U.S. Open with a discussion of Novak Djokovic falling one match short of his historic bid for the Grand Slam (which means a specific thing, y'all). What signs were there that Djokovic was in trouble, looking back? And how does Djokovic, 34, move on from this? We then salute our new major champion and Troll King, Daniil Medvedev, who had established himse...

Ben and Courtney dive right into the paradigm shifting, generational groundshaking moment that shocked the tennis world this week in New York: the photo of Maria Sharapova with the Williams Sisters at the Met Gala. After that, we turn our sights to the new star born in New York, Emma Raducanu, who won history as the first qualifier to win a Slam. What made her such a juggernaut on court? And how w...

Ben and Courtney both took the time during this U.S. Open to watch the new Netflix documentary "Untold: Breaking Point" about Mardy Fish and his struggles with anxiety and mental health during the end of his elite tennis career. We both loved it, and heartily recommend it to you as a very timely watch for many reasons. Mardy joins Ben for a discussion about various things raised by the documentary...