No Challenges Remaining

This week, Ben and Courtney come to realize that things just aren't what they used to be. Like Rafael Nadal's tennis, which Courtney bore witness to this week in Rio, where he again looked mortal on clay. Also, Caroline Wozniacki's reliability, since she fell out of the top 20 for the first time in nearly eight years. And even with Nick Kyrgios winning his first title, is there a stable foundation to build on for him? We're then joined by Reem Abulleil of Sport 360 in Dubai to talk about the tournament there, which was rocked by WTA withdrawals and upsets. Reem is cool. Then we talk about Ash Barty, comeback kid. Rantily, Courtney doesn't like getting asked if she bought things but does like getting things she didn't buy, and Ben is amused in a muscovial way. 

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And here is that Lizzo & Caroline Smith track that Courtney adores. 

February is a choose your own adventure sort of month in tennis, and Ben and Courtney have all sorts of fun on a windy path through results of debatable relevance. Are wins by players like Thiem, Klizan, Vinci and Venus meaningful? How about more dodgy losses for Nadal? And what is a fair level of hype to be putting on Taylor Fritz right now? Then we take a number like we never have before, and follow our chosen man into a battlefield that might explain some of his losses. There's still time to respawn, though. 

As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be. 

Ben and Courtney are delighted to be back stateside, and delighted that Andy Murray's child (it's a girl!) arrived at a convenient time. Less delightful is the latest corruption scandal in tennis, and Ben is joined by Sean Ingle of the Guardian to discuss his report into the silent banning of two chair umpires for misconduct at the Futures level. Less ickily, Fed Cup happened this weekend, so we do a deep dive explainer-thing into what makes that competition tick, and how it gets messy with competing interests, ranking points, etc. Then, because we're American sportswriters, we discuss Cam Newton and what all that means from a tennis lens. 

We're also thrilled to introduce our two 2016 executive producers in this episode: Francisco Resendiz of 10sballs.com and Tal Woolley!

As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be. 

Another Australian Open, another Novak Djokovic title. Ben and Courtney know the unsurprisingness of it all is unsurprising, because it's becoming clear that Novak Djokovic is just in a league of his own. So, how will he do against a tougher opponent than any now on tour: history? And where does this tournament leave Andy Murray, besides once again cementing his trophy ceremony tearjerker crown? Then, we wrap up the tournament with a brief look at Petra Kvitova splitting with longtime coach David Kotyza, and who we're going to be watching coming out of Australia.

Thank you guys for hanging with us on this Australian Open spectacular! As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.