In an annual post-marathon tradition, Ben and Ricky Dimon catch up on the world of men's tennis, both recent news and the overall stories of this 2025 season that is nearing its conclusion.

We start with the big news from the ATP, who have announced that a new, 10th Masters 1000 event will be added to the calendar win a few years. With complaints about the schedule rampant, what do we make of the addition of a big tournament that no one was really asking for? And what will the ripple effects on the rest of the calendar and the sport be?

We also discuss the field of the WTA Finals, the new location of the Paris Indoors Masters, and hand out some of our own year-end awards: what ATP player had the Most Surprising 2025 (Good) and the Most Surprising 2025 (Bad)?

Also, who and when will be the next non-Sinner-nor-Alcaraz Slam winner?

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 Ricky's writing at TennGrand!

In an episode that was released as a video overnight for our Patreon backers, Ben and Tumaini catch up on the happenings of the tennis tours in China, including 204th-ranked Valentin Vacherot somehow winning ATP 1000 Shanghai, beating his first cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the title. Is it the most shocking title we can recall?

We also discuss Zverev's much-mocked complaints about surfaces being rigged for Sinner and Alcaraz, the stellar seasons US women are having--but which has been best?--the Hall of Fame candidacies of Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and an ode to Gael Monfils on the occasion of his retirement announcement.

And then for something different, we discussed Tumaini's deep dive into how tennis players feel about their requirement to be woken up to pee in front of strangers.

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!

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!!