No Challenges Remaining

Episode 267: Tennis Returns, But a Rocky Road Ahead

Well, tennis is back, folks! But at the same time, tennis continues to go away. What to make of it all?

To help make sense of it all, Ben is rejoined by Reem Abulleil and Tumaini Carayol who also have been (virtually) covering the WTA's return event in Palermo this week. Is the tour set to succeed? And how do we think this sort of virtual coverage will change our work?

We also discuss the cancellation of Madrid and the new rules document from the U.S. Open, as well as the decision of defending champion Rafael Nadal to skip this year's event.

And then as a bonus at the end, you'll hear Dayana Yastremska discuss her unexpected turn as a recording artist.

(Apologies for some of the audio issues on Ben's track as this issue goes on, we did our best to make it sound decent)

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 following us on Twitter and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 266: Glenn Greenwald on Martina Navratilova

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, creator of The Intercept, joins Ben on this episode to discuss his longtime admiration of Martina Navratilova, the documentary project about that admiration he has been working on, and the hurdles that he's run into along the way as Navratilova has incurred the wrath of activists, as Glenn wrote about here at the Intercept.

We discuss Navratilova's sudden fall in LGBT sports circles, the notion of cancel culture, and also Glenn's longtime love of tennis and what he makes of the modern game.

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 following us on Twitter and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 264: Sports Bubbles Roundtable

As sports work towards a mid-pandemic return across North America, Ben is joined by a veritable constellation of media stars across the landscape to discuss how things are progressing across various arenas, and what their successes and struggles might indicate about what's in store for the tennis tours as they plot out a mid-pandemic comeback.

The panel: Helene Elliott, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times; Ava Wallace, reporter for The Washington Post; Lindsay Gibbs of Power Plays; and Caitlin Murray, author of The National Team.

We think you'll have a real good time listening and learning.

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, including a new episode since last posting featuring Courtney discussing her love of The Last of Us! 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, and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 259: Sandra Zaniewska

Ben and Courtney are delighted to bring you a conversation they had last month with Sandra Zaniewska, a rare former WTA player who now coaches on the tour (or did before the tour stopped, anyhow), working first with Petra Martic and now with Alize Cornet.

We discuss finding meaning during the shutdown, her own journey through the sport as a player and a coach, how coaches can cope with this stoppage, what she makes of Dominic Thiem's controversial comments, and her own nascent adventures in podcasting.

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 #NCR259!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

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

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 have a lot of questions and a lot of suspicions.

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 #NCR253!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

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

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 Envy featuring author Jon Wertheim later this week. The NCR Book Club next continues on to our next selection: Hard Courts by John Feinstein.

After the book chat, Ben and Courtney debrief on life in our current quarantines. It's a weird time, y'all. 

If you'd like to support our show, particularly as our normal work has ceased, 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 #NCRBookClub!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 247: Communicating on Tour, With Sally Bradfield

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 communications reps who have to corral players after tough losses, deal with egos, and constantly negotiate obligations against objections. If you delight in backstage tennis tea, you will be quite quenched.

If you'd like to support our show, 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 #NCR247!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 245a: Maria Sharapova Retires (with Tumaini Carayol)

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 in early 2016, which complicated and muddled a career which was already likely on its downhill. 

We also share some of our favorite memories of Maria, and what made her such a tremendously satisfying antagonist on the tour--particularly for Serena Williams, whom she was a distant second behind in the end.

If you'd like to support our show, 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 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 #NCR245a!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

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

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 proven himself as a coach on the tour, and we hope you'll enjoy coming along for the ride.

If you'd like to support our show, 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 who have already given their support!  

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 #NCR245!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Episode 244: A Picture Perfect Tour, with Jimmie

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 off-season ventures).

If you'd like to support our show, 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 who have already given their support!  

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 #NCR244!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.