A podcast discussing the happenings in the wacky world of professional tennis. Hosted by Ben Rothenberg and Courtney Nguyen.
Episodes
Friday Jul 03, 2020
Friday Jul 03, 2020
The fall out from the Adria Tour coronavirus cluster took an unexpected trip to the dance floor within a week later, with video surfacing of Alexander Zverev partying in Monte Carlo just days after being repeatedly exposed to the disease (and promising to follow health protocols) enraging people around the sport in tennis and severely damaging trust in tennis players.
To discuss the ramifications, and the notions of a code of conduct, Ben is joined by NCR's Middle East correspondent Reem Abulleil (please do support her Patreon as well!) to talk about what the tours can and can't do, the corrosive effects of selfishness in tennis, and more.
Should tennis continue on without putting super rigid restrictions on personnel behavior in place? And if tennis has to do so much in a pandemic that it stops being fun, should it just stop all together? Big, bleak conversations are had here, but we also had a lot of fun.
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 you can do just that! Check out our five tiers and see which might be right for you! And thank you to the many listeners who have already given their support! (And thank you to G.O.A.T. backer J O'D!)
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 #NCR263!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.
Monday Apr 10, 2017
Monday Apr 10, 2017
With a quarter of 2017 now complete, Ben and Courtney try to make sense of it all. But does it make sense, really?
Daria Kasatkina won Charleston in an all-teen final, which should be a big result. But what are results anyhow, when every player seems to have a roughly equal share of success and failure these days? Which characters and plotlines are really relevant? Does TV have the answers?
The men's side is a completely different coin, because one beloved old dude (Roger Federer) has stepped up to fill the void. But just what is that void without Federer being there as a shiny glaze on top of an otherwise questionable confection?
Lastly, we make predictions for the French Open, an amusingly hopeless endeavor.
And 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 #NCR184!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.
Thursday Apr 21, 2016
Thursday Apr 21, 2016
It's our sesquicentennial! As Ben and Courtney commemorate 150 episodes (well, actually this is our 181st, but you know we're not much for counting correctly), they first take you on a trip to the south of France, where NCR's France correspondant Carole Bouchard wraps up the Monte Carlo Masters, where Nadal won on clay and it was somehow a surprise. Then, after a detour through Fed Cup, we pivot to the south of the United States, and soak in the sounds of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, one of our favorite stops on tour with some of our favorite people. You'll hear from four of them: volunteer extraordinaire Lynn Coursey ("She's here!"), Diane Elayne Dees and Daniel Ward of Women Who Serve, and tournament manager Eleanor Adams. Then Courtney and Ben meditate (or something) on their relative experiences with the sports worlds of Portland and Philadelphia.