Ben and Tumaini can't take a break with all the news breaking already in this short tennis offseason, led (so far) by the revelations around Iga Swiatek's positive test and small one-month ban after convincingly proving her melatonin had been contaminated.

This is the second doping case right at the top of tennis this year, and there's a lot to discuss in the fallout: the two-tiered track of tennis justice that seems to favor top-ranked players, concerns over cases increasing, and what recent high-profiles have in common and not.

We then turn to the unexpected announcement from Novak Djokovic that he's hired Andy Murray to be his next coach. Why does this pairing make sense for each of them, and why do we like it more the more we think about it?

Lastly, Tumaini shares final impressions from how Rafael Nadal's career finally wrapped up in Malaga, and why the pageantry at the end left many feeling flat.

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!

Ben and Tumaini got a bunch more questions than fit into our previous episode, so, after an amazing musical prelude by Dan Bern, we answer the remainder of ones we got before recording in this separate episode.

We discuss a wide range of topics: Billie Jean King's suggestion that tennis should simply the scoring terminology; padel; ranking points at Challengers; the unpopularity of two-week Masters 1000 events; if Iga Swiatek should play more doubles; unimpressive comments by Ben Shelton and Jon Wertheim; Sara Errani's Hall of Fame candidacy; and the progress toward a possible ATP-WTA merger.

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!

Ben and Tumaini join up once again to discuss the tennis season that is *still* going in mid-November, somehow.

We start with Jannik Sinner's dominant run at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he never lost more than four games in any set en route to a title that moved him even further from the pack. How discordant are these magnificent triumphs with the backdrop of his still unresolved anti-doping saga?

We also discuss the impressive season put together by finalist Taylor Fritz, express concern over the present and future of Daniil Medvedev, and discuss the ATP reupping for another five years of this event in Italy.

We then go to Tumaini's beat in Spain, where he is on the ground in Malaga for Billie Jean King Cup, Davis Cup, and the Rafael Nadal retirement. We recorded this before Nadal played his final match, but you can get a sense of how big the hype was around the city for this occasion.

More of your mailbag questions get answered in an upcoming episode!

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!