No Challenges Remaining

Ben sits down with author Giri Nathan for this episode, to go deep into his new book, Changeover, and the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry at its focus. 

This episode was recorded during the U.S. Open, but these two players remain the overwhelmingly obvious story in men's tennis, including this week as Sinner won Beijing while Alcaraz won Tokyo. 

We discuss the process of writing this book--which hopefully is particularly interesting to media folks--and also the ways in which Sinner and Alcaraz's dominance might be taking suspense out of the sport right now.

Slightly condensed versions of this interview are also up on Bounces.

Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D.

And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And buy Giri's book!!

Ben and Tumaini, eventually joined by Giri Nathan, discuss the ending of this 2025 U.S. Open, which concluded with Carlos Alcaraz dominating Jannik Sinner in a four-set victory to complete their third major final of the year. How much better is Alcaraz right now in this match-up? And what did Sinner reveal in his press conference during our intermission.

We also discuss the elephant in the room for this final: the US Open return of Donald Trump, and the disruption his presence caused on site.

We also talk about the women's tournament, which ended with most-improved Aryna Sabalenka defeating an impressive Amanda Anisimova, and also featured a resurgent Naomi Osaka reaching the semifinals. 

Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D.

And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And Tumaini's work at The Guardian! And buy Giri's book!!

Ben and Tumaini check back in after the most-hyped match of this U.S. Open so far, in which Naomi Osaka soundly beat Coco Gauff to make it into her first major quarterfinal in more than four years.

We discuss that match as well as the rest of the women's draw, including the Krejcikova-Townsend epic, and then turn to the men, in which Djokovic-Fritz is an intriguing match before what looks like (we think?) a pre-destined Sinner-Alcaraz final.

Plus, Tumaini met JoJo! 

Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D.

And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And Tumaini's work at The Guardian! 

It's a whistlestop episode for Ben and Tumaini, who had a train to catch late Friday night at the U.S. Open.

We have a lot to catch up on, including the firestorm created by the Townsend-Ostapenko match and why that hit such a cultural nerve, the bizarre mess of a scene at Iga Swiatek's press conference (which the USTA deleted from the record), Altmaier's avoidance of Tsitsipas' drama, chatter around Carlos Alcaraz's hair, Coco Gauff's struggles, Naomi Osaka sparkling, Ben Shelton and Jack Draper's injuries, the visibility of gambling on site, and a bit more.

Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D.

And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And Tumaini's work at The Guardian! 

Scuttling previous plans, Ben and Tumaini are together once more for a bit of an emergency episode on the wild shitshow which Daniil Medvedev delivered on Sunday at the US Open, exacerbating a long delay when down match point to Benjamin Bonzi which dramatically turned the match, only for Bonzi to win in five.

We discuss the surreal scenes, the mistakes made by pretty much every party involved, how single-official matches just aren't working in tennis, and more of the fallout, including Medvedev's press conference (we recorded this episode before Bonzi came in). 

Thank you for listening! Our Patreon is back up and running to ensure NCR keeps going and stays ad-free, and we hope you can join in supporting NCR! And we especially thank our GOAT backers: Pam Shriver and J. O'D.

And please check out Ben's new writing home, Bounces! And Tumaini's work at The Guardian!