No Challenges Remaining

Episode 136: O Come, All Ye Random Numbers

As they deck the halls, Ben and Courtney fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la over Roger Federer's 2016 schedule, which throws out the mold and the clay. Should more players follow his lead and pick and choose more selectively from the all-you-can-eat buffet that is the tennis calendar? Then, we wrap and stick under the tree what you've all been asking NCR Santa for: Take a Number, and lots of it. After a few rounds of lucky numbers, we then soup it up and hold our second annual Secret Santa for the ATP and WTA top 10s (with a couple substitutions). Then Ben raves and Courtney raves and raves and rants and raves some more. Because it's Christmas, and we should all be cheery cashiers Robin Hood-ing when we can. 

With less than four weeks to go in our campaign, we thank you for continuing to make our Kickstarter campaign such a success so far! We're already blown away by the totals (over $11,000 as of publishing this episode!) but would love to see a higher percentage of our audience chip in, even if it's just a tiny amount. You guys are helping to make NCR bigger and better, and the tennis world is taking notice. You can support NCR and gain access to exclusive backers-only content here, which includes Ben diving deep into his rave for GeoGuessr. Also, we're offering a new #ImJustHereForThePostcards reward level! 

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

Episode 135: Lindsay Davenport (and Olympic Chat)

Who better than 1996 gold medalist Lindsay Davenport to join Ben and Courtney to talk about the Olympics? Well, Lindsay is awesome on anything and everything, but for this Olympics-themed episode as we're on the eve of an Olympic year, Lindsay shares her memories from her various Olympic efforts, her thoughts on how the Olympics have grown in stature within tennis, and the show-and-tell duties that they never tell you about when you're on the podium. Ben and Courtney also discuss various other Olympic issues, including their disruptiveness in the calendar, qualifying rules, and which mixed doubles teams we #RioShip. 

And again, we thank you for continuing to make our Kickstarter campaign such a success so far! We're already blown away by the totals, but would love to see more of you become backers at any level, no matter how small. Support and gain access to exclusive backers-only content here. 

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

Episode 134a: Serena Williams is Sportsperson of the Year

In a rare emergency episode that is for an indisputably positive reason (neigh-sayers aside), Ben and Courtney discuss Serena Williams being honored by Sports Illustrated as their Sportsperson of the Year for 2015, becoming the first woman to win the award outright in over 30 years, and the first tennis player in over 20 years. To discuss how Serena clinched the honor, we're joined by Sports Illustrated's executive editor Jon Wertheim (host of SI's reinvigorated tennis podcast Beyond the Baseline), who dives into the process of picking the Sportsperson as well as what it's been like to have his entire career overlap so closely with Serena's. 

We finish by thanking you guys for the beyond amazing start to our Kickstarter campaign, with you guys more than doubling our base goal in less than a week. You guys are the best, and have opened lots of exciting possibilities for what the show can do next year. It's still going for another five weeks, so if you'd like to join in and get access to some exclusive backers-only content you can do so by chipping in here.

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

Episode 134: Kickin' Back in the Off-Season.

As the off-season starts to get comfortable (and shorter, sadly), Ben and Courtney dive into the mailbag once again to discuss a whole bushel of topics. Is IPTL worth paying attention to for tennis fans? And is it a good proposition for the players who play it, including the lethargic Serena Williams? We also discuss our Hall of Fame ballots, and the legacies of nominees Justine Henin, Marat Safin, and Helena Sukova. Also in questions, we discuss what fair 2016 expectations are for Serena and Djokovic, LGBT issues in tennis, and Andrea Petkovic's doubts about her tennis motivations and what they can teach us all.

Also, in an effort to continue growing and improving, we officially launch our Kickstarter campaign to help support NCR in 2016! You can donate and learn more about our Kickstarter campaign here. Check it out, and thanks in advance for considering us! 

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

Episode 133: Murray Family Values

As Ben and Courtney finally exhale upon the long-awaited arrival of the off-season, they're left breathless on the topic of Andy Murray, who won the Davis Cup for Great Britain in one of the most impressive solo efforts ever in the competition. Ben is joined by Scottish tennis writer Stuart Fraser of the Mail Online to discuss his land's native hero and his most recent heroics, as well as the surprising timing of the latest round of criticisms of British tennis that has followed in the wake of one of its biggest successes. Then, Courtney and Ben dive into the mailbag for all sorts of questions, ranging from our favorite press conference moments to the value of tennis maintaining its niche status to the most likely next first-time Slam winners to what "deuce side" means. Lastly, Courtney ties a cheesy string to her childhood while Ben is inspired to shovel. 

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

Episode 131: Boot and Rally

Both back in America, Ben and Courtney tee up the homestretch of this 2015 season, in which Maria Sharapova fell short through no fault of her own in the Fed Cup final, Novak Djokovic continues to cruise, and things are tasting stale in London. Why is it that this time of Djokovic's dominance has been received less warmly than Federer's dominance? Does the ATP need to move the World Tour Finals out of London to get out of a rut? Does Novak Djokovic's great fall make us reconsider if he had a better year than Serena? And what does Ronda Rousey's loss say about premature legacy making?

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

Episode 130: Now, Challenger Remnants

After her long sojourn up and down Asia, Courtney gets a much deserved week off, leaving Ben to drive 100-something miles to find someone to talk to, and winds up in an adventure in Challengerland.  At the $50,000 challenger in Charlottesville, Virginia, Ben talks to four(!) guests to give y'all a panoramic view of this world and the people who make it up. First is Mike Cation, the voice of the USTA Pro Circuit, who is more embedded than commentator in tennis. Next is Challenger circuit veteran Alex Kuznetsov,  coach Billy Heiser (working now with Tim Smyczek and Denis Kudla), and lastly the ever-ambitious Ryan Harrison.

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

Episode 129: Round-Robin, Radwanska, Roger-Rafa

As they continue travel schedules that are normally only maintained by Carmen Sandiego characters, Ben and Courtney reconvene from Charlottesville and Zhuhai, respectively, to discuss the happenings of the week in tennis. And what it week it was! Losers got lucky in Singapore, then got good, as Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her biggest career title in unlikely fashion. What does her win say about her, and about the round-robin redemption format? Then, in Switzerland, Roger Federer improved to 5-1 indoors against Rafael Nadal...and still remains his pigeon? We discuss, and then we end by pouring one out for our homies at Grantland. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes or whatever your podcasting platform of choice may be!

Episode 128: Tennis Makes Us Feel Things

With the WTA Finals underway, Ben chats up our Singapore correspondant, Courtney, to talk about how the tournament is shaping up. How very impressive is Sharapova's ability to make successful comebacks time and time again? Is this a glimpse at a post-Serena world? And what of the bigger emphasis on doubles, including the new fan favorite Chan sisters? Speaking of doubles siblings, what does it mean for the Bryans to lose the top ranking? And in men's singles, why was Nadal-Rosol's resumption of unniceties the perfect reminder of why we care about tennis? Lastly, we introduce you to Courtney's new WTA Insider podcast, Ben talks about architectural karma, and these pretzels are making Courtney homesick. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes or whatever your podcasting platform of choice may be!

Episode 127: Jiří Fencl

Again a world apart, Ben and Courtney bridge a 12-hour time difference to come together for this episode, in which they discuss the yawniness of Shanghai and Novak Djokovic's invincibility, but then rally to Djokovic's defense when it comes to his snub from the ATP Sportsmanship Award Ballot. Just who do Ben and Courtney think should be considered for that award, as well as the other ATP votes? Then, more excitingly, Ben chats with Jiří Fencl, the coach of Lucie Hradecka, who discusses the life and challenges of being a coach, Czech tennis, as well as his awesome tennis app Resultina and the challenges and opportunities of tennis data. As always, thanks for liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes or whatever your podcasting platform of choice may be!