No Challenges Remaining

Episode 5

Ben and Courtney go bi-coastal for Episode 5, as Ben headed to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open and Courtney returned home to stare at a livescore window. We lay down our final observations from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, share some press room stories, shoot a side-glare at Michael Llodra, rationalize the lack of early round television coverage, and preview the upcoming tournament in Miami, where Ben got to witness the welcome return of Alisa Kleybanova, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Serena Williams. If you can’t laugh at how haphazardly Ben makes his ATP predictions, get thee to an infirmary, stat. Thy funny bone is broken. Links mentioned on this week’s episode:

• Don’t know what it means to “Go Tyra” on someone? Here you go. [YouTube]
• Ben’s piece for the New York Times on the Michael Llodra incident. [New York Times]
• Courtney’s piece for SI.com on the Michael Llodra incident, and some follow-up thoughts on how it was handled. [SI.com]
• Sofia Arvidsson’s Twitter.
• Victoria Azarenka’s empty press conference after her semifinal win over Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.

Episode 4a

Episode 4 was struck down by the crippling stomach virus that is spreading around the Coachella Valley, so Ben and Courtney, who are both in Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open, reconvened to discuss what’s happened so far and what we look forward to during the business end of the tournament. We talk about Mardy Fish and Petra Kvitova’s early dismissals, the beautiful grounds at Indian Wells, and we hop on the Mona Barthel bandwagon. Tune in for our predictions just so you can hear Courtney say Ana Ivanovic had no shot against Caroline Wozniacki. When asked for a comment, Courtney said “Oops.”

Episode 3

On Episode 3, Ben and Courtney recap last week’s tournament action in Dubai, Marseille, and Memphis and break down the Radwanska/Azarenka breakup. They also discuss the Dubai wildcard “ickyness” involving Marko Djokovic and Malek Jazeeri, flashback to Isner/Mahut 2010, we Take a Number, and finally get to dip into our Tweetbag to answer listener questions. Links mentioned on this week’s episode:

• How Courtney graded last week’s action. [SI.com]
• Victoria Azarenka’s comments about confidence. [SI.com]
• “Agnieszka Radwanska not pleased with Victoria Azarenka”. [SI.com]
• Courtney’s take on the Dubai wildcard decision. [SI.com]
• Ben’s summary on the Dubai wildcard decision, including details on Marko Djokovic. [NY Times]
• “Back on the Road, Jaziri Makes Tunisia Proud” [NY Times]
• Strokes of Genius, by Jon Wertheim. [Amazon.com]
• Nicolas Mahut in drag at Hopman Cup [Youtube]

Episode 2

On this week’s episode, Ben and Courtney recap last week’s play in Dubai, Rotterdam, San Jose, and the NCAA Indoor Team Championships in Charlottesville. We also talk about Victoria Azarenka’s winning streak, contracting a tough case of Milos Fever, the two sides of Roddick’s coin, and Rodney Dangerfield, er….we mean Caroline Wozniacki’s response to Martina Navratilova’s comments. Finally, Courtney interviewed Sam Stosur and she lives to tell the tale. Links mentioned on this week’s episode:

• WTA Punchbags (Tennis Forum)
• Open Rookie Has Queens Roots (NY Times)
• Courtney interviews Sam Stosur (SI.com)
• Caroline Wozniacki responds to Navratilova’s comments (SI.com)
• Hardcourts by John Feinstein (Amazon.com)
• AUDIO: Jon Wertheim talks to former NFL coach Brian Billick about tennis. (SI.com)

Episode 1

Introducing the debut episode of No Challenges Remaining, a podcast designed with nothing in mind other than to talk about tennis. In the first episode, Ben Rothenberg and Courtney Nguyen talk about the Americans’ beatdown of Switzerland in Davis Cup, Great Britain winning all four Slams in the span of two weeks (at least we assume that’s what happened based on the media coverage), Caroline Wozniacki’s development (or not), Carla Suarez Navarro and Ivan Dodig (trust us, there’s context), and we rant about Twitter for no good reason.