No Challenges Remaining

Ben and Courtney are joined by The Guardian's Tumaini Carayol to discuss his reporting on Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, two young stars who have emerged as leading voices among players as America is gripped by protests following the murder of George Floyd. How are these two women using their voices? What sort of shift might this represent in the public persona of Osaka, particularly? Are there any drawbacks to athletes speaking out? And how might the stoppage change social awareness in the sport?

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 #NCR258!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

The U.S.T.A. confirmed today that it plans to hold the U.S. Open in its regular dates, albeit without fans and with players and their teams kept in a isolated bubble. The Western & Southern Open will also be played, but at the U.S. Open venue rather than in Ohio. But before those, the first tournament back on the ATP Tour will be the Citi Open in Washington DC. To talk about what it's taken to get there, and what comes next for the tournament, Ben is rejoined by tournament owner Mark Ein to discuss how his tournament is preparing, what challenges lie ahead, and what an event could look like this summer.

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 #NCR261!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Four years after we launched NCRvision into this world, we're finally able to bring some closure to the adventures of our 26 heroic songs inspired by tennis, and to enjoy a whole lot of fun side quests along the way! We've counted the 411(!) ballots that our listeners cast, and we reveal the finishing order of the songs from 26th to champion, having a whole lot of fun along the way. We start with a recap of the show and an interview with Eurovision expert William Lee Adams who lends his expert eye to our field. Then we have tons and tons of montages of bonus songs, interviews of artists, and more surprises along the way. Hopefully you'll have as much fun with the way this whole NCRvision journey wraps up as we have had putting it together. Thank you again for your votes, and for your patience. Getting this done was a major undertaking, and we're very relieved it is finally complete.

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

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest final was slated to be held today in Rotterdam, but alas 'twas not to be given the coronavirus situation around the continent and the world. The world is a far less glittery place than it should be.

But fear not if you're missing that song contest fix! We're reairing our beloved NCRvision Song Contest from 2016 here for your renewed enjoyment. There's also a purpose behind this reairing: to get you refamiliarized with the songs for when our results show finally drops later this month! You're going to love it, we promise. 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 #NCRvision!), and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.

Two programming alerts for you here, one sort of a bummer but the other one super-duper. Firstly, we decided that the US Open roundtable episode we recorded after the press conference in New York had become instantly outdated when the positive tests started rolling in from the reckless Adria Tour, so we made the tough decision not to publish it since it was feeling obsolete. In much happier programming news, we have some very fun stuff rolling onto our Patreon now: games of tennis-themed Codenames with Ben, Courtney, Blair Henley and Nick McCarvel! We had a TON of fun with our friends, and hope you'll have just as much watching the three-part video series, the first round of which is up now. To access these shows, and for the hook up on how to play this tennis-themed game with your own crew of tennis-loving friends, please join the 200+ wonderful listeners who are backing us on our Patreon. 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, and subscribing/reviewing on iTunes on iTunes or whatever your podcasting app/platform of choice may be.