No Challenges Remaining

In what we hope will become an annual tradition, Mary Carillo joins us once again as the Australian Open is about to begin, helping us set the table for what should be a tasty Slam.Across a freewheeling chat that takes several sharp turns along a scenic route to Day 1 of the Australian Open, we discuss Andy Murray, Ash Barty, Hopman Cup, ATP Cup, Serena Williams, and our hopes for the 2019 season, which include records and breakthroughs.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR221!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

As they begin Season 8(!) of NCR, Ben and Courtney dive into the men's and women's draws of the Australian Open, which look well set up for the usual suspects on the men's side, and for just about anybody on the women's side. So, business as usual!  We will have more for you soon (including Courtney's many feelings about Sir Andrew Barron Murray), but for now enjoy this look ahead at what should be a fun two weeks in Melbourne.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR220!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

Our seventh season of NCR wraps up with the third part of our marathon "Remember When?" episode, covering everything from the North American hard courts until the end of the season, with some final musings as well. From Stefanos Tsitsipas' emergence in Canada (and YouTube) to the trauma of the US Open women's final to the Nadal-Djokovic Saudi exhibition that never was, we have lots more to discuss before we're finally done. And we end, of course, with our final raves of the year. See you in 2019! As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCRRememberWhen!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

The second installment of "Remember When?" sees Ben and Courtney reminisce on the very eventful French Open, as well as Wimbledon, where we did not need 16 seeds and we assured you. Lots of stuff on Serena's catsuit, marathon matches, and an unexpected amount of schadenfreude.  Even if it didn't come home, we're glad you have. These episodes are less about the headline grabbing stories and more about the smaller moments that made the year feel how it felt, and we do hope you enjoy it as a tasty dessert at the end of a year-long meal.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCRRememberWhen!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

With a whole year behind them, Ben and Courtney have a whole lot to look back on, both fondly and...less fondly.  And so, the fairly annual "Remember When?" episode is here, at least the first third of it on the first four or so months on the season. All sorts of wacky things happened in Australia, and the year stayed interesting throughout. These episodes are less about the headline grabbing stories and more about the smaller moments that made the year feel how it felt, and we do hope you enjoy it as a tasty dessert at the end of a year-long meal.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCRRememberWhen!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

Back together for the first time since New York, Ben and Courtney recap the fall season, revisiting Elina Svitoina and Sascha Zverev winning the year-end championships, Darren Cahill stopping his work with Simona Halep, the surge of Wang Qiang, and a bit more. We then eulogize and celebrate the magnificent career of Agnieszka Radwanska, a player who found unique possibilities for how to play--and excel in--the sport like no other in this era. She's awesome, and we'll miss her a whole lot. We close the main part of the show with a discussion of the general silence from the tennis media around the arrest of Justin Gimelstob on a felony battery charge in Los Angeles, and what the reaction can and needs to be. Courtney closes out the show with a comprehensive gift guide for anyone in your life who might like a board game, which we do hope you'll find handy.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR218!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

With Courtney covering the end of the women's season in Zhuhai, Ben is joined once again in Washington with friend of the show Ricky Dimon to talk about all things men's tennis.  After a quick look back at the season as a whole, Ben and Ricky look ahead to London, which is coming down to a two-horse race between Kei Nishikori and John Isner. Which would make for a more intriguing participant?Then, we look at the players from last year in London who came nowhere near qualifying this year, most notably Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock. On Sock especially, how did he manage to plummet so badly this year? We then weigh in on the current debate over whether or not Pete Sampras was boring (or the boringest), and what makes a player boring. And then we discuss other superlatives by going over the ATP award nominees, and we imagine who would be on the ballot for antonymous awards (like least sportsmanlike). We then eulogize retiring players like David Ferrer and Mikhail Youzhny, and raise a #FreeDimonator rallying cry. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR217!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

On the heels of the release of her new book, "Driven: A Daughter's Odyssey," Ben speaks with Julie Heldman about her journey and the legacy of her mother, Hall-of-Famer Gladys Heldman. Heldman, one of the "Original 9," details the formative days of professional women's tennis and the factors that helped it off the ground. We discuss her mother's role, Billie Jean King's role, and how the story is remembered today. We also discuss the sport today and her struggles with mental health, which were worsened by often cruel treatment by her mother. It's a compelling read and you should check it out, for sure. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR216!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

With Courtney in China for a bit, Ben was delighted to meet up in D.C. with The Washington Post's Liz Clarke, who recently returned from Chicago where she covered the second Laver Cup, the novel new event which seems to defy expectations and definitions in tennis in first two successful editions. Ben and Liz discuss her impressions of the event and how players and crowds have taken to it, what makes it work, the definition of "exhibition," and her take on the competing interests in men's tennis now. Liz also shares her experience and wisdom on what makes tennis' struggles so uniquely frustrating and self-sabotaging (and please do go buy her great book on NASCAR if that bit piques your interest whatsoever). And, of course, The Boss plays her out.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR215!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

After spending the last episode on Naomi Osaka and what happened in her final against Serena Williams, Ben and Courtney move on to the rest of the U.S. Open. Well, after an explanation of what "Pique" is, a bit more on Serena: what do we make of her not being the closer she once was deep in Slams? Then, other topics include: the heat and the slow courts, the impact of moments when non-tennis media becomes interested in the sport, women's top-10 fleeing Slams early, champion Novak Djokovic, runner-up Juan Martin del Potro, and Mo Lahyani's absurd intervention into the Kyrgios-Herbert match.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR214b!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

The 2018 U.S. Open was absurdly eventful, and the women's side finished with tremendous controversy, so we devote most of this first wrap-up episode to that. But first, we spend ample time on our new breakthrough champion, Naomi Osaka, and her stunning performance. Then we dive headlong into everything that happened in the second set of her win over Serena Williams, which sparked worldwide discussion about officiating, sexism, and more. It was a whole big mess, and we hope we're able to clean it off and sort it out pretty well for you here. Part 2, on everything else that happened at the U.S. Open, coming later this week. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR214a!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

With Naomi Osaka reaching the U.S. Open final, Ben and Courtney revisit the first time we discussed her, back on Episode 83 in August 2014. We had never heard of her before that week, but we were immediately intrigued and excited. We get a lot of things wrong on NCR, as anyone who listens knows, but we think we got this one right. We also mention Courtney's interview with her on WTA Insider. We'll be back after the finals to wrap up this whole very steamy tournament. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR213!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

It's been a minute, but Ben and Courtney are back together to tee up the 2018 U.S. Open draw and do a little catching up on things we missed or covered in our lost post-Wimbledon episode. First, the draws, which feature Serena Williams being dealt a gauntlet of her sister and Simona Halep, clearly the best player of the year. How do we assess the many threats in that quarter? And who else is well positioned to go deep? On the men's side, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic seem like co-favorites, but how do their paths compare? Also, we still agree about best-of-five, and now Andy Murray sees it our way. And one of us is more excited than the other about #poLLanskycaLLendarsLLam As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR212!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

NCR was THRILLED to be able to partner with friend of the show Nick McCarvel for his "Open Playbook: Being Queer & Out in Pro Tennis" event on the Thursday before the U.S. Open at the Housing Works Bookstore in SoHo. After a quick intro chat between Ben and Nick, you'll here Nick host a panel featuring out gay former players Brian Vahaly and Casey Dellacqua, who share their different journeys of coming out and the acceptance (or lack thereof) they felt along the way.  It was a super fun night with cocktails (Martini Navratilova, anyone?) and drag queens and laughs, but also a unique chance to explore the LGBT experience in pro tennis, and we at NCR are thrilled to be able to bring it to those of you who were not in attendance (and it was great to meet the many listeners who were!) As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR211!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!

Together in the Wimbledon Village, Ben and Courtney break down the women's and men's Wimbledon draws. First, the women, where much handwringing ended with Serena Williams getting the #25 seed. Fair? We discuss. And how do things look for the favorites? And why are those in the know so stoked about Sabalenka-Niculescu.  On the men's side, is it interesting until clear favorite Roger Federer loses? You may find out our opinion on that, though Ben does his darnedest to offer factoids throughout.  As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook (leave comments on the episode thread! Engage with other listeners!), following us on Twitter (discuss this episode with hashtag #NCR210!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be!