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Episode 273c: 2020 U.S. Open Day 2 - Tsvetana Pironkova Finishes Her Question Sep 02, 2020

Show notes

The second day of first round play included many impressive comebacks, both mid-match and several years in the making. Kim Clijsters played her first Slam match in eight years, Andy Murray won (and stuck up for women again, as per), and, in her first match in more than three years, Tsvetana Pironkova took advantage of the fast courts to lay a beatdown on Liudmila Samsonova.

Ben and Courtney caught up with Pironkova after her win to hear about her decision to come back, playing as a mom, and finding new challenges.

Again, thank you so much for the incredible support for NCR in recent days!

If you'd like to join fellow listeners in supporting our show as we work to crank out daily shows during the 2020 U.S. Open, 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. backers J O'D, Mike, and Charles Cyna!)

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 273b: 2020 U.S. Open Day 1: Bubble Trouble Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

Day 1 of the U.S. Open was dominated by talk of the decisions made a day earlier, when a number of players who were in contact with Benoit Paire after his positive test for coronavirus were still allowed to play their matches, albeit under tighter restrictions which one referred to as "a bubble within a bubble."

You'll hear from two of those double-bubbled players, Adrian Mannarino and Kiki Mladenovic, as well as from Noah Rubin, host of Behind the Racquet, who spread word of this late last night on his podcast and has growing concerns about how the "bubble" is being handled by the USTA.

You'll also then hear from our cherished NCR Middle East correspondent Reem Abulleil for her thoughts on how it's been handled. Lots to cover!

Thank you so much for the incredible support for NCR in recent days!

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 273a: 2020 U.S. Open Day 0 - Blair Henley, Inside the Bubble Aug 30, 2020

Show notes

As Ben and Courtney prepare watch and cover this U.S. Open from home, they check in with a buddy who has been on the ground in New York for "Cincinnati" and will be for the U.S. Open as well: Blair Henley, on-court interviewer to the stars and a woman of many varied talents in tennis.

Blair discusses her journey through tennis from teaching pro to writer to YouTuber to on-court emcee, what makes for the best on-court exchanges with players, and how much preparation it takes to pull off a MarioKart win on social media.

She also discusses what it's felt like on the largely empty grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center so far, and how she and players are adjusting to the new protocols. She also asks for a reiteration of "PTPA" pronunciation, and we marvel over Novak Djokovic's ability to compartmentalize.

If you'd like to support our show during this odd, disruptive year, 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. backers J O'D and Mike!)

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 272: 2020 U.S. Open Draw Breakdown! Aug 30, 2020

Show notes

Ben and Courtney break down the U.S. Open draw amid a tournament build-up which feels very different to that of a normal Grand Slam, particularly as we aren't even in New York this week.

We discuss the women's draw first, where 2018 champ Naomi Osaka impressed on and off the court during "Cincinnati" but comes in carrying a hamstring injury. What to make of Serena's form since the shutdown? Can Kim Clijsters make an impact? Also, Dayana Yastremska is very much.

On the men's side, after a helpful pronunciation guide to the new "PTPA," we discuss Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Reilly Opelka, Daniil Medvedev, Milos Raonic, Bobby Bautista, and more. Also, hear Courtney's thoughts about night trains!

This is the first of many, many shows we have planned for the U.S. Open, so stay tuned!

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 271: Naomi Osaka Takes a Stand and Tennis Follows Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

UPDATE: After Osaka initially withdrew from Thursday's semifinals, she has agreed to play on Friday after the entire day of play was postponed on Thursday.
Postponing the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open because of continuing police violence against Black people, Naomi Osaka joined an escalating wave of anti-racism athlete activism that began in basketball and has echoed across North American sports. Tennis has been seen as remedial in recent years when it comes to athlete engagement, so Osaka's gesture was especially striking.
Tumaini Carayol of the Guardian joins to discuss Osaka's action, what if any precedents there are for it in recent tennis memory, and where the sport goes from here, now that Cincinnati has canceled play on semifinal Thursday out of deference to the moment and that the U.S Open main draw is only days away.
You'll also hear in this episode from Milos Raonic, who was strikingly forceful on the topics in the moments after his own quarterfinal win.

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 270: Courtney's Back! (And So Is Tennis) Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

For the first time in two-months-but-feels-like-much-longer, Courtney returns to an NCR episode! She graces us with her presence as we discuss tennis getting back underway in earnest now with a few weeks of the WTA Tour behind us and the New York swing of "Cincinnati" and the U.S. Open rapidly approaching.

What do we make of the challenge of covering the sport remotely? Who has stood out in the on-court action we've seen so far from the women? Will this U.S. Open be "asterisked," and what does an asterisk even mean? And what do we expect and want from players in the New York bubble?

Also, Courtney discusses her burgeoning career as a Twitcher.

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 269: Sendhil Ramamurthy of "Never Have I Ever" Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

The most talked about TV show in the tennis world during this long stretch of indoor entertainment, without doubt, has been the Netflix comedy "Never Have I Ever," narrated by John McEnroe and featuring Sendhil Ramamurthy as the tennis-loving father of protagonist Devi Vishwakumar.
Sendhil doesn't just play a tennis lover on TV; the dude seriously plays and knows his tennis, and we're delighted to have him on NCR to discuss his love for tennis, working with John McEnroe, the relative lack of tennis in pop culture, and much more fun.

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 268: Louisa Thomas on the Fractured World of Tennis Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

The New Yorker's Louisa Thomas is back with us to discuss the comprehensive piece she published about the state of tennis in these tumultuous last five months, "The Fractured World of Tennis Amid a Prolonged Pandemic."
Louisa and Ben discuss the notion of self-centeredness and tennis and how players are trained by people to potentially hurt those same people, how tennis' structure reflects both its strengths and weaknesses, the fast-approaching U.S. Open, and much more, including, inevitably, Nick Kyrgios.
It's a wide-ranging story and a wide-ranging chat, and we think you'll enjoy it.
Also, please go get Louisa's new book, Losers, for yourself and/or everyone you know!

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 267: Tennis Returns, But a Rocky Road Ahead Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

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)

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 Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

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.

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