As the first week of the French Open wraps up, Ben and Courtney bring in a legendary tennis Tweeter to guest on each side of the tournament. First, discussing women's happenings, it's Tumaini Carayol ! How well is this women's draw holding together to pay off in a great second week (answer: very), and should Alize Lim's outfit have saved her from some doubles fine (answer: why not?) On the men's side, it's Ricky Dimon ! He shares his thought on the cavernous second quarter, Djokovic's improved p...
May 29, 2016•38 min
Our first mini show from the French Open wrapped up an uneventful first five days. On Friday there was news, and it was bad news: Rafael Nadal withdrew with a left wrist injury. To discuss and contemplate what this means for Nadal short-term and long-term, Ben is joined by the wonderful Marta Mateo of La Vanguardia , who discusses Rafa, the aging of the Armada, and the shift in focus to the two women who might become the new faces of women's tennis. And as always, thanks for liking us on Faceboo...
May 27, 2016•20 min
It hasn't been a very eventful French Open yet (not necessarily a bad thing), so here after the first two rounds have finished we bring you a few morsels from the press room. From Thursday evening, hear Tatjana Maria's indignation at the behavior of her opponent Alize Cornet in their dramatic second round clash. Then, hear Florida-raised Naomi Osaka attempt to speak to her country's press in Japanese with mixed results. Lastly, some snippets from the ever thoughtful Ernests Gulbis, who is on a s...
May 27, 2016•18 min
Not much music this time, but Ben and Courtney try to hit all the right notes in this breakdown of the French Open draws (after a quick review of the Rome action), including some predictions. On the men's side, if it takes a team effort to beat Novak Djokovic, then who can contribute to that? And what are the chances like for his rivals Nadal, Wawrinka, and Murray? On the women's side, does Serena's path become complicated by Azarenka? Is a rematch of last year's semifinal likely? And just how b...
May 22, 2016•1 hr 5 min
We are beyond excited to bring you the NCRvision Song Contest, a celebration of and competition for the best songs inspired by tennis in the world! Ben and cohosts Carole Bouchard and Rene Denfeld walk you through the 26 songs which reached the final and are hoping for your votes. The ballot is here . Any questions, please ask! Here's the running order, full of twists and turns and bops and jams. Binge - "Vamos Rafa" Robin Ward - "Wimbledon" We Are the Physics - "Goran Ivanisevic" Stagecoach - "...
May 13, 2016•1 hr 26 min
On the eve of glorious NCRvision, Ben and Courtney debrief briefly on the week that was in Madrid, where Simona Halep put herself back in the conversation by winning yet another wide-open WTA tournament. What does a Paris shortlist look like? Probably not very short. On the men's side, Novak Djokovic wins his 29th Masters, Rafael Nadal dropped off, and Andy Murray ended his two-year partnership with Amelie Mauresmo. Should Murresmo be remembered as a success? We say yes. And as always, thanks fo...
May 10, 2016•33 min
Ben and Courtney are covering the Mutua Madrid Open for the first time, and are surprised by some things and not by others. We also discuss the schedule management concerns cropping up this week as they pertain to grassophiles Roger Federer and Venus Williams, as well as the general topics of the Olympics drawing closer on the horizon. Then, we sit down with the ever delightful and insightful Timea Bacsinszky , to talk about how her perspective and pressures and role on the tour have changed as ...
May 04, 2016•41 min
In their last pre-Europe show, Ben and Courtney discuss the things you probably shouldn't do on television, like Roselyne Bachelot's accusations about Rafael Nadal that just drew a defamation lawsuit. But is there any good way to talk about illicit performance enhancement speculation, a question raised by Andy Murray voicing his vague suspicions? Also, Serena Williams and her throne joined Beyonce in Lemonade, which was way neato. Then we take questions on WTA surprises (including the delightful...
Apr 27, 2016•1 hr 3 min
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...
Apr 21, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Today is Tax Day in the United States, and so we thought we'd take a dive into the fun and splashy topic of taxes! Joining Ben to talk about finances and bookkeeping in tennis is Kelsey Anderson , the wife of top ATP player Kevin Anderson, who herself is a certified public accountant (though even she outsources some of the more complex tax stuff to an expert in tennis taxes). Tax laws that affect scheduling in the U.K., tax havens like Monte Carlo, it's all here. As always, thanks for liking us ...
Apr 18, 2016•29 min
After the tennis world was glued to the unlikely location of a 6-0, 6-0 qualifying match at a $25k in Pelham, Alabama, Ben chats in this mini-episode with the reason for that fascination: Gail Falkenberg, who continues to compete in professional tennis at the age of 69. What has this 15 minutes of fame (including coverage in the Wall Street Journal ) been like for her? What were her origins in tennis, and keeps her competing at this challenging level against much younger opposition despite lopsi...
Apr 13, 2016•25 min
With one-quarter of this year behind us, Ben and Courtney assess the 2016 season so far, where surprises on the women's side are met with complete predictability for the men. Is the shakeup atop the women's game--including Victoria Azarenka's "Sunshine Double"--more a product of the field improving or Serena Williams slipping? And who, if anyone, can be considered a clay court favorite? On the men's side, has Novak Djokovic reached the UConn women's basketball level of domination where you have ...
Apr 06, 2016•1 hr 5 min
After an Indian Wells that wasn't much about tennis, Ben and Courtney hope to be able to move on in Miami...but not before trying to make sense of Novak Djokovic's clumsy PR maneuvers, and enjoying a seminar from Professor Billie Jean King. Then, is anyone closing the gap on Novak Djokovic? How much concern is merited over Serena Williams' recent losing streak of sorts? Is it fair to panic? And was this a meaningfully positive stretch for Halep and Muguruza, or still disappointing? As always, th...
Mar 31, 2016•1 hr 12 min
Back together at last, Ben and Courtney wrap up all the doings of Indian Wells for you, obviously first and foremost dealing with the controversial remarks of CEO and tournament director Raymond Moore (which led to his stepping down after we recorded). What do his remarks say about the current state of play between the ATP and WTA, especially as they concern gratitude or money or whatever? And how about the tremendous response of Serena Williams and the less tremendous response of Novak Djokovic...
Mar 23, 2016•1 hr 14 min
As the dust settles on a week that saw Maria Sharapova (and several busloads of other athletes) test positive for the newly-prohibited substance meldonium, Ben convenes a roundtable of tennis talkers to discuss the case and it's implications near and far. With friends of the show Jon Wertheim , Carole Bouchard and Simon Cambers , we discuss the test itself, what it means to Sharapova's legacy, how it could have happened, and all sorts of other related stuff, including French people who should ke...
Mar 14, 2016•37 min
Talk about your emergency episodes. After Maria Sharapova dropped the bombshell that she had tested positive for a (recently) banned substance at the Australian Open, Ben discusses the facts of the case with doping expert Richard Ings . Who is to blame here? What is the likely punishment? Was it fair to expect Sharapova to realize that something she had taken without incident for a decade was suddenly verboten? What can be done to prevent this happening again? We'll have much more on this story ...
Mar 08, 2016•38 min
As February and its unexpected results take a flying leap, Ben and Courtney discuss the month that was, and who emerges strong (looking at you, Sloane). We then pivot a bit, as we do annually, to the Oscars, which had more of a tennis hook than usual because of the attendance of Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova. Tennis stars are popular, you guys! Then, we discuss why women's tennis in particular gets so much more respect stateside than other sports, going off of a conversatio...
Mar 02, 2016•1 hr 13 min
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 tou...
Feb 24, 2016•1 hr 34 min
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 ...
Feb 17, 2016•1 hr 1 min
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 comp...
Feb 10, 2016•1 hr 28 min
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 Davi...
Feb 03, 2016•20 min
Angelique Kerber stunned Serena Williams in three sets to become the 2016 Australian Open champion, and Ben and Courtney are here to take you through how it happened. Why did Serena keep crashing the net with no success? How will this change how Kerber is seen and what she can do in her career? How does Serena recover from this? Will this finally get women's tennis naysayers to shut up for a bit? Hear from us, as well as Kerber, Serena, Torben Beltz, and Patrick Mouratoglou. As always, thanks fo...
Jan 30, 2016•32 min
The Australian Open final is set and it's the fourth time Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are going to be squaring off on a Sunday night in Melbourne. It's a lot. Are Ben and Courtney excited aboutt his match-up? We're...not sure. But we dutifully break down the striking semifinals, including Novak Djokovic's incredible early mastery of Roger Federer and then Andy Murray's escape against a Milos Raonic whose body betrayed him (but sure was snappily dressed!). Lastly, we acknowledge how the strain...
Jan 29, 2016•15 min
We're wrapping up just the women's semifinals from Melbourne today (chat on both men's semifinals coming to you tomorrow), and Ben and Courtney are pretty happy with the final we got. Serena was crazy good against Radwanska, and you'll hear about it from *both* coaches involved, Tomasz Wiktorowski and Patrick Mouratoglou. Serena will face Angelique Kerber in the final, so we hear from both Angie and veteran German reporter Doris Henkel about the state of German tennis and other such bossly goodi...
Jan 28, 2016•33 min
One of the biggest ever upsets that involved a win by the higher-ranked player! Angelique Kerber beat hot pick Victoria Azarenka today in Melbourne, and so Ben is joined (on Courtney's day off) by two awesome fellas: Nick McCarvel and Matt Trollope , freelance writer for Tennis Australia and elsewhere. Just how was Kerber able to turn around her 0-6 record against Azarenka? Hear from her coach Torben Beltz. Also, Vika was not happy. And we also hear from the impressive but quoteful Johanna Konta...
Jan 27, 2016•21 min
Ben and Courtney found Day 9's action entirely underwhelming, with every favorite winning in straight sets with relative ease. So after a brief chat on Serena-Maria, we shift to the coolest story of the tournament: Zhang Shuai, and just why her run is so delightfully life affirming. Then, we talk about being made unwitting reality show stars by the tournament, whose "AO Live" feeds are intruding on what had been considered sheltered spaces in the heart of this tournament. It's a bit much. Then, ...
Jan 26, 2016•25 min
With their 21st meeting tomorrow, Ben and Courtney take a stroll down the very noisy memory lane that is the Serena Williams-Maria Sharapova rivalry (yes, it's a rivalry, you guys). After hearing from Day 8 winners Milos Raonic and Johanna Konta, we gear up for the marquee women's quarterfinal with some archive audio of past Melbourne meetings, and then hear about the tactical side of their match-up from tactician Craig O'Shannessy , who has worked as a consultant with Team Sharapova on trying t...
Jan 25, 2016•28 min
It's the second week, and Ben and Courtney can now talk about lots of important matches as the tournament reaches its pointy end. Gosh, Serena's good, isn't she? Maria's playing well, too, but does it matter? Then, what the heck was all that Djokovic-Simon nonsense? Does the performance cast any doubt over the overwhelming favorite's chances here? And what do the calm and steady performances of Radwanska and Suarez Navarro teach us about veteranliness? Also, stop spitting near Courtney you gross...
Jan 24, 2016•28 min
As Ben and Courtney wrap the third round, we're joined by a first-rate guest: Donna Kelso, a walkie-talkie-rockin' supervisor for the WTA and Grand Slams. We discuss how the awesome Aussie rose through the ranks of tennis to be a roaming ruler of the tour, after having chair umpired several Australian Open finals. When stuff goes down in tennis, who you gonna call? Donna Kelso! We talk grunting=hindrance?, medical timeouts, and all sorts of other neato stuff. As always, thanks for liking us on F...
Jan 22, 2016•38 min
On Day 4, Ben and Courtney send off Lleyton Hewitt at long last with the help of Australian tennis writer Will Swanton . Is his legacy being overglossied in these moments? Then, we delight in the major debut of underground sensation Naomi Osaka, and talk about her complicated Japanese identity as well as her subversive humor. You'll like this girl. If you were an NCR backer who got a reward on Kickstarter, please fill out those backers' surveys ASAP! And thanks again! As always, thanks for likin...
Jan 21, 2016•33 min
