Jannik Sinner, the Grandmaster (and Everyone Else in Rome)
5/19/20261 hr 3 min
Ben and Tumaini get back together at their kitchen table in Paris, discussing events of Rome, where the biggest story was Jannik Sinner making ATP history.
We discuss the enormity of Jannik Sinner having won all nine Masters 1000 events, and how the ATP's term for it is deeply suboptimal. It's not the most suspenseful tour right now, but it's impressive.
We also discuss the far more unpredictable women's field, including champion Elina Svitolina as well as Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Sorana Cirstea, and more.
We also discuss boycott talk (we don't think it's plausible but it's still notable), and the Italian Federation's stated goal of making Rome into the official "Fifth Slam."
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.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTumaini Carayol· Guest0:00
Miss Ostapenko has no challenges remaining.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:02
Welcome to No Challenges Remaining, live from Paris. I'm Ben Rothenberg, joined by Spain's NCR and Sub-Saharan Africa correspondent, and The Guardian's tennis correspondent, Tumani Carayol. Tumani, hello. I was just with you in the kitchen here as you were watching the Arsenal- The Arsenal, yeah ... game on, match on live score.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:25
You can say game in football. You can say game in football.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:26
Yeah? Oh, you can? Okay.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:28
Huh, I feel like that's something pe- American soccer snobs would correct you on.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:31
No, no, no, no, no. That's tennis snobs who would correct you on, rightfully so.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:35
Yeah, that'd be something different. I, okay. Interesting. In- You can say football game ... interesting. Okay.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:38
You know, it's the soccer's the part that we correct you on.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:40
Sure. Uh, but anyway, everyone knows what soccer is and it's a very great term.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:44
Yeah.
Ben Rothenberg· Host0:44
The, uh, how's, how's it, how's it going for you as an Arsenal fan right now, briefly?
Tumaini Carayol· Guest0:48
It's just a s- a stressful time, man. It's the weird, you know, it's ... Uh, it, like it should be a great time. Arsenal now after, t- today beating Burnley 1-0. One game to go in the Premier League, and if we win it, we win the, um, title for the first time in over two decades. It's stressful, man. I'd like, I j- I'm not built for this, man.
Ben Rothenberg· Host1:10
No.
Tumaini Carayol· Guest1:10
You know, w- was, was watching actually the, the previous game. We were watching the previous game, um, against West Ham, um, in, in Rome in the press room. Like, it was dr- As, you know, I won't go into details, but it was incredibly dramatic. There was a late VAR, uh, check and a dis- disallowed goal. And