The Behind the Racquet with Mike Cation and Noah Rubin
The Behind the Racquet Podcast is the best glimpse you can get in to the ins and outs of professional tennis, told by its players, and voiced by Tennis Star Noah Rubin, and his podcast partner, tennis commentator Mike Cation.
Wimbledon Champ Noah Rubin is Bored
Lots to recap here, in this pod recorded slightly before the women's final at Wimby. We discuss
-The slowing of the grass courts
-Paolini is great, but she shouldn't have two straight GS finals
-Panic at the (Challenger) Disco
-Wild Cards tbd at the Open. Guess yours!
Posted on 15 July 2024
Behind the Racquet with Cooper Williams
Cooper Williams is an 18 year old originally from New York City. He's currently ranked 1250 on the ATP Tour, but this summer he will no doubt see a massive jump in that part. It's inevitable. He's a former junior world #3, and was a top 10 collegiate talent this past spring at Harvard. That includes an Australian Open doubles title with Learner Tien.
This summer is an important one for Cooper, as he explores the professional tour and sees where he fits in. We certainly expect some big things, and it was great to have him join us on the pod to talk about his transition in to college, what he expects this summer, and shockingly, what Noah meant to his career!
Posted on 4 June 2024
Behind the Racquet with Marcus Willis
Marcus Willis is a 33 year old from Slough, Great Britain, ranked 116 in the world. He is a 5 time (at this moment) Challenger doubles champion.
Once, he made it to the second round of Wimbledon.
Those two sentences don't begin to sum up the man with some of the best hands in tennis. Marcus sat down with Mike and Noah to talk about THAT run to Wimbledon, THAT episode with the RC Cola and a snickers bar, and also how those big moments have been mixed with some really trying times, both externally, and some self made issues.
As you'd expect with a Brit once nicknamed Cartman, there's a lot of hysterical stories, some introspection, and we get it all on this week's BTR Pod.
Posted on 14 May 2024
Behind the Racquet with Tristan Boyer
First, unfortunately, Mike's mic shut down in recording, so as the least important person on the pod (Noah and Tristan agree on this)..his voice will sound shaky today.
Tristan Boyer is a 23 year old out of Southern California, ranked 231 in the world. In a few weeks, he'll play in Roland Garros qualifying for the first time in his career, just his second career grand slam appearance (after the US Open Qs last year). Just over one year ago, he was ranked 1500 in the world heading in to the green clay Challengers in the states, and reached the Savannah final to really start his professional career.
We talked with Tristan about his more unique training in South American, his departure from Stanford, and what he's focusing on as his career gets underway in earnest.
Posted on 6 May 2024
First Quarter Check In with Noah and Mike
Noah is back from his honeymoon, so we do a catchup on some recent topics
Namely the potential tour restructure. What does it mean for the Challengers?
We get a honeymoon recap from Noah, how to best interact with fans, Danielle Collins, and a resurgent Rafa and what that means.
More with Tristan Boyer next week.
Posted on 29 April 2024
New Balance Winner's Circle with Thanasi Kokkinakis
Thanasi Kokkinakis sat down with Mike after winning the Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open, his 6th Challenger Title. We talk about his return to the top 100, and guaranteeing himself a spot in the French Open main draw with a week on an injured foot. He battled tough conditions, tough opponents, and the weight of that main draw throughout the week, and is now headed on his European summer trip.
Posted on 15 April 2024
Behind the Racquet with ATP Player Council Member Miguel Angel Reyes Varela
Miguel is now 36 years of age, and remains very much in the discussions at the slams as a top 75 doubles player. The former Texas Longhorn talks about his long career as a doubles specialist, what made that decision for him, and how he views the long history of Mexican tennis.
We also get in to some of the ATP Player Council politics, namely how doubles gets more eyes (and money), where the ATP is on a domestic abuse policy, and whether Latin America will be getting a Masters Series event.
More next week!
Posted on 12 March 2024
Behind the Racquet with Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas had an incredible playing career, as a top 40 player in both singles in doubles, a WTA singles title, 5 doubles titles. She's most well known for a win over Serena at Wimbledon in 2002. Since her career ended in 2013, she's become a fantastic commentator at the Slams, as well as for both the ATP and WTA. This week, she'll be one of the courtside reporters for TennisTV.
We chat about her playing career, and how she's brought her inquisitive nature to her reporting and commentary work!
Posted on 4 March 2024
Behind the Racquet with Eliot Spizzirri
First, apologies for some of Mike's audio issues in this one. Unfortunately, the wifi in his hotel this past weekend caused a few issues so we're going to ignore the fact that he sounds worse than normal, which is saying a lot.
Here are Eliot's deets:
Age: 22
Rank: ATP 721, ITA (College) #1
Hometown: Greenwich, Connecticut
2023 Collegiate Player of the Year, finishing #1 in singles, #2 in doubles
He will definitely hop in as a Challenger level player quickly once he turns pro at the end of the year.
More coming up next week! Also, happy birthday to the lil fella.
Posted on 21 February 2024
Behind the Racquet with Aleks Kovacevic
Aleks Kovacevic sat down with Mike before the Dallas Open to discuss finally hitting top 100 after his run through qualies and in to the 2nd round of the Australian Open. At the time of publish, Kova is back outside of the top 100, at 102, after losing some points from the Cleveland Challenger title one year ago. But hitting 85 was just one step on his journey. He's a University of Illinois graduate, his game is gorgeous, and he's got a new coach to help him get to that next level.
