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PODCAST

No Challenges Remaining

No Challenges Remaining Tennis Podcast

A podcast discussing the happenings in the wacky world of professional tennis. Hosted by Ben Rothenberg and Courtney Nguyen.

sports tennis

All Episodes

01:19:34

Episode 257a: An NCRvision Refresher

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/05/17

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest final was slated to be held today in Rotterdam, but alas 'twas not to be given the coronavirus situation around the continent and the world. The world is a far less glittery place than it should be. But fear not if you're missing that song contest fix! We're reairing our beloved NCRvision Song Contest from 2016 here for your renewed enjoyment. There's also a purpose behind this reairing: to get you refamiliarized with the songs for when our results show finally

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01:30:55

Episode 256: We Need to Talk About Novak

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/05/15

In light of recent developments, Ben is joined by a Novak Djokovic superfan, Katrina aka @returnwinner, to talk about her journey as a fan of Novak's from the beginning to now. We talk about what drew her to Djokovic initially, her journey as a fan of a less popular player, and what she most admires about Djokovic. Then, pivoting to more recent developments, we discuss Djokovic's frustrating fall into the fray of faux-wellness charlatans, and how we should react to a favorite having some

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29:57

Episode 255: Calling Tennis Remotely, with Ravi Ubha

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/05/06

As the world works from home, we thought it might be useful to give you perspective from the folks who work remotely in tennis even under normal circumstances: the world feed commentators. Ravi Ubha, veteran journalist and commentator, talks about what it's like to call matches that happen around the world from a small studio in England, how to prepare, how to create atmosphere, and more. If you'd like to support our show, particularly as our normal work has disappeared along with the sport, we've

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55:27

Episode 254: How We Carry on While Stopped, with Mike...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/04/27

For another perspective on life without tennis from someone inside the sport, Ben is joined by NCR favorite Mike Cation, co-host of the Behind the Racquet podcast, who shares his experiences now that his commentary work has ceased indefinitely with the sport halted due to coronavirus. We discuss the impact of the current moment on both financial and mental health, how lower-ranked players might be especially affected, and on the strains of exhibition match ideas which are popping up in all sorts of

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41:09

Episode 253: The Dudes Wanna Merge Now? (With Reem...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/04/23

The tennis world is stopped, but it got suddenly busy on Wednesday with Roger Federer expressing a view that he'd like to see the ATP and WTA tours merge into one organization after decades of being side-by-side but separate. More curiously, Rafael Nadal, not a supporter of equality measures in tennis, quickly endorsed this idea. What is going on? Ben is joined by Reem Abulleil try to figure out what's happening here, where it's coming from, and what it might mean for the futures of the tours. We

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33:00

Episode 252: How to Begin to Restart, with Mark Ein

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/04/14

With the traditional European clay swing and the grass court circuit both off the calendar for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the next possible start line for the sport is the summer hardcourt stretch in North America, on which the first big combined event would be the Citi Open in Washington. To discuss how the tournament is preparing and thinking currently, Ben is joined by Citi Open owner Mark Ein, who gives his insights and perspectives about how tennis might return after months

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54:28

Episode 251b: NCR Book Club Author Chat - Jon Wertheim

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/04/03

To enhance our discussion and understanding of NCR Book Club selection Venus Envy, Ben and Courtney are joined by Jon Wertheim to chat about his experiences writing the book and how he looks back on it, two decades later. How has the tour changed since? How will history remember Anna Kournikova? And what is the current state of tennis in the publishing world? If you'd like to support our show, particularly as our normal work has disappeared along with the sport, we've launched an NCR Patreon where

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01:57:51

Episode 251a: NCR Book Club - "Venus Envy" by Jon...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/04/01

Ben and Courtney are delighted to bring you the long-awaited first discussion of the NCR Book Club, chatting about one of our favorite tennis tomes: Venus Envy by Jon Wertheim, which covers the 2000 season on the WTA Tour We discuss the colorful characters, what's changed in the sport in the last two decades, and how the book is a great snapshot of a moment on tour which is often sanitized or glossed over in modern narratives. Plus, a whole lot more. We will have another episode on Venus

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42:13

Episode 250: Courtsiding with Brad Hutchins

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/03/29

To distract you all from the bizarre world in which we live, Ben introduces you to one of the more unusual characters from the tennis ecosystem: the courtsider. (For more of an explainer on what courtsiding is, you may want to read this piece first) Brad Hutchins, author of the book Game, Set, Cash, reminisces about his time on tour as a courtsider, the highs and lows of that job, and what it's like to be the mouse in a cat-and-mouse chase around the globe, working lawfully but against the wishes

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04:24

Episode 249b: What the French?! (Mini Episode)

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/03/22

This tiny update is mostly to alert followers who track our show primarily through this feed that Ben and Courtney got together earlier this week to record an episode about what quarantined life is like. Since it didn't have tons to do with tennis, we put it on our Patreon page for supporters there. But since we were told many people had missed it and would have liked to have known it was there: voila, this mini episode. It's available to our backers there, and you can become one if you're not

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37:02

Episode 249: Closing For Coronavirus, With Dr. Chris...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/03/13

With the tennis tours now officially being suspended for at least more than the next month (goodbye Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Monte Carlo, etc), Ben is joined again by Dr. Chris Worsham, a pulmonologist at Mass General and Harvard Medical School, to discuss the spread of the virus and why events are ceasing. What makes a tennis tournament such a bad idea during a pandemic? Would the suggested fixes (like ballboys wearing gloves) have done much? And when might we see a light at the end of the

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31:15

Episode 248: Coronavirus Shuts Down Tennis

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/03/12

The spread of the global pandemic COVID-19 (coronavirus) is forcing the world of tennis (and much of the wider world as well) to grind to a halt as we seek to slow the spread of the deadly disease. Ben is joined by Reem Abulleil to discuss the impact of the disease so far, and the headline-making cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the fifth-biggest tournament in tennis behind only the Grand Slams. We discuss where tennis might go from here, the idea of playing tournaments in

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42:24

Episode 247: Communicating on Tour, With Sally Bradfield

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/03/07

Ben and Courtney are joined in this episode by Sally Bradfield, a former communications rep on the tennis tours who is the author of the new novel Not Quite 30 Love, and who has a host more stories to tell about her time working in tennis, particularly (to Ben's delight) on the WTA at the turn of the millennium. Sally has stories about working with emerging stars like the Williams sisters, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, and also speaks generally to the ever-ongoing plight of

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01:13:19

Episode 246: Louisa Thomas on Writing About Tennis

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/28

We are delighted to have Louisa Thomas, one of the most wonderfully writerly writers about tennis in her work for The New Yorker, on this week to talk about all sorts of things to do with tennis and writing, and answer bunches of listener questions. We discuss how she got into writing about tennis, how to make tennis relevant to a general audience, the Kim Clijsters comeback, her favorite athlete to profile, the Big Three and how to compare greatnesses, tennis books, and much more. (Recorded before

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59:08

Episode 245a: Maria Sharapova Retires (with Tumaini...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/27

After Maria Sharapova announced her retirement on Wednesday morning, Ben is joined by Tumaini Carayol of The Guardian for an emergency episode to discuss her career and its many highs, lows, and controversies. After expressing some relief that she's stopped, we discuss what made Sharapova keep pushing on through the pain so long, and also what our early memories of her career were. We discuss her arrival as a star, and then the darkening of that when she tested positive for a newly-banned substance

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50:11

Episode 245: The Path to WTA Coaching (with Tom Hill)

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/21

Ben is joined on this week's show by Tom Hill, the coach of Maria Sakkari (who is set to make her WTA Top 20 debut on Monday), to hear more about the path of a young coach onto the WTA Tour. Tom takes you from his beginnings as a young Brummie boy who ventured off to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida and then worked his way through the college ranks before getting an unexpected break into elite women's tennis. First with Danielle Collins and then with Maria Sakkari, Tom has slowly but surely

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36:41

Episode 244: A Picture Perfect Tour, with Jimmie

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/14

This week we bring to your ears a conversation with one of the sharpest eyes on tour: traveling women's tennis photographer Jimmie, who follows the tour year round with a dedication to the sport no other photographer can match. We talk about how Jimmie worked his way onto the tour, building himself as a trusted person in the fabric of the tour, and what his days and weeks look like as he depicts the women of the WTA in new and fresh ways with an unrelenting schedule (which even included some

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48:52

Episode 243g: Australian Open - Novak Djokovic Eight...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/06

Ben and Courtney wrap up the Australian Open with a look at the end of the men's event, which finished for the eighth time with Novak Djokovic as champion. He sure seems to be closing in on that G.O.A.T. count, huh? Also, we discuss runner-up Dominic Thiem, who is establishing himself as the new Andy Murray, Sascha Zverev, who made a first Slam semifinal and generated a lot of donation talk, and Roger Federer, who toughed out a win over Tennys Sandgren and then gamely took court to face the music

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57:12

Episode 243f: Australian Open - Sofia Kenin's...

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/02/03

Ben and Courtney wrap up the Australian Open starting with the women's side, in which Sofia Kenin leaves Melbourne as the unexpected champion. How did she fly under the radar for so long? What does her story say about the immigrant experience in tennis? And what can we expect next from her? We also discuss Garbine Muguruza's revival, Ash Barty's coping mechanism, and more from the second week of the Australian Open on the women's side. Men's wrap show out soon! If you'd like to support our

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25:37

Episode 243e: Australian Open - Previewing the Finals

No Challenges Remaining ·

2020/01/31

The 2020 Australian Open finals are set, and Ben is joined by longtime friends of the show Nick McCarvel and Matt Trollope to predict who will leave Melbourne with the trophies. The women's final pits Sofia Kenin against Garbine Muguruza, meaning a largely unknown quantity against an often unpredictable one. How will they each handle this occasion? The men's final represents another chance for Dominic Thiem to break through the stranglehold of the Big Three, but he'll need to beat the toughest

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585 results

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