No Challenges Remaining

Ben and Tumaini discuss the eight quarterfinals played at Roland Garros and the semifinals that are now set up, starting with the men and going in reverse chronological order.

We start with Arnaldi winning The Battle Of The Matteos, setting up an all-Italian semifinal against Flavio Cobolli after Cobolli handed Felix Auger-Aliassime a bitter defeat. On the bottom half, we discuss Jakub Mensik stepping up against Joao Fonseca, and if anyone can stop heavy favorite Alexander Zverev, who has breezed through a pretty soft draw.

On the women's side, we start with the shocking loss of No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who seemed to be in full control before losing 12 of the last 13 games against Diana Shnaider to crash out. There were echoes of last year's defeat to Gauff, but this year's press conference was more good humored.

We then discuss the surprise run of Maja Chwalinska and the strong Kostyuk-Andreeva semifinal on the bottom half.

Lastly, we get into the news that the Serena comeback is now official, even if we really have no idea what to expect yet as Serena hasn't set any expectations yet.

A reminder that is still a 15% discount on Bounces subscriptions during this French Open!

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.

Ben and Tumaini are back after the third and fourth rounds of what's turned into a wild and thrilling French Open, particularly on the men's side where the post-Sinner free-for-all has produced stunning full-length battles over and over and over again.

We discuss Fonseca d. Djokovic, Jodar and the ball girl, Arnaldi d. Tiafoe, and Zverev's clear status as the favorite to win.

We also discuss the women's side exits of Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek.

And we're sorry that Ben's phone died mid-reading the Patrons list off of it!

A reminder that is still a 15% discount on Bounces subscriptions during this French Open!

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.

Ben and Tumaini come together after one of the most shocking matches of our tennis lifetimes, with prohibitive favorite Jannik Sinner taking a commanding 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 lead before promptly stopping winning points and games, ultimately listlessly falling in five sets to Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

This episode has two big components: what happened to Sinner and why, and what's left of the field without him. Somebody else, stunningly, is going to win the 2026 French Open. But whom?

A reminder that is still a 15% discount on Bounces subscriptions during this French Open!

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.

Ben and Tumaini wrap up the first round at this 2026 French Open, where it's been very hot and a bunch of the top 10 seeds haven't looked so hot, particularly on the men's side.

On the women's side, the car crashes have somehow been literal, but Naomi Osaka's fashion moment was a big hit in all the best ways.

Also some Bounces items mentioned: there's a 15% discount on subscriptions during this French Open, and you can read the recent pieces on Oleksandra Oliynykova and Emma Navarro at the links.

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.

Ben and Tumaini keep everyone's favorite annual episode title going strong with a look at the draws for the 2026 French Open, where Jannik Sinner is a prohibitive favorite against an uninspiring men's field and the women's side seems far more up for grabs.

Can anyone stop Sinner? If so, whom? And who could even make it out of the bottom half?

On the women's side, we discuss Sabalenka, Swiatek, and a recent video involving Leylah Fernandez and her coach.

We also discuss the media "protest" that players staged during media days, with varying degrees of successful stagecraft.

Then to wrap up, we chat about our dear departed friend Howard Fendrich, the longtime AP tennis reporter who passed away this week. (You can read Ben's tribute to Howard here.)

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.