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.
Behind the Racquet with Zachary Svajda
Zachary Svajda is 20 years old from Southern California, currently ranked 170 in the world. This fall, he won the Cary Challenger, and this past Sunday, he won the Tiburon Challenger for the second straight year.
We talk about his upbringing, his decision to go pro instead of going to college; his strong connections with Roger, Novak, Steve Weissman, and Rick Buchta; and that incredible ball-striking ability.
Hopefully, more coming up from Fairfield this week!
Posted on 10 October 2023
Behind the Racquet with Brian Koppelman
Brian Koppelman is a DEVOTED tennis fan, but you'll know him best for his involvement as Executive Producer and Showrunner for the Showtime series Billions, writer of Ocean's Thirteen and Rounders, and the director of the 30 for 30 episode "This Is What They Want", about Jimmy Connors.
He sits down with Noah to chat about Billions, his tennis love, and so much more. Mike was unfortunately on air at the time, so he had to feed Noah questions about his literal favorite film, Rounders.
Tomorrow we'll have a quickie with Abdullah Shelbayh, and Freddie Nielsen joins us next week!
Posted on 2 October 2023
US Open Recap: Coco's Impact, Novak's advantage, and lay off the character assassination.
Lots to hit on this week:
-Coco's win and its impact in the states
-Novak remains way beyond the rest
-Ben gets beat up, and it's completely unnecessary
-Is the Halep suspension the tip of the iceberg?
More next week!
Posted on 18 September 2023
Behind the Racquet with Bryan Shelton
Bryan Shelton is best known at this moment as Ben Shelton's Coach and Father. We chat about Ben's progress, where he can go, how far he's come, and how Bryan and his wife Lisa balanced athletics with "real life" for their two kids.
Bryan is the only coach to win NCAA titles on both the men's and women's side, at Georgia Tech (women) and Florida (men). And, yes, a HECK of a player himself, reaching 55 in the world, with two ATP titles.
I'm really appreciative of Bryan's time, as he likes to keep the focus on his son, as well as his daughter Emma. More from New York next week.
Posted on 3 September 2023
Did We Just Become Best Friends?
Lots to catch up on from the last month.
What a week in Cincy, with Coco taking the title, and THAT MATCH.
We go in depth on Coco and her impact.
We also try to tackle how to shorten the season, and is there a need for a COMPLETE revamp of how we do the rankings?
Posted on 22 August 2023
Behind the Racquet with Wimbledon Quarterfinalist (!!!) Christopher Eubanks
The 27 year old Atlanta resident woke up from a well deserved nap to join us on Wednesday night, and go through how his life has changed in the span of 3 weeks with a first ATP title in Mallorca, and a spirited run to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
We go through how he's processing it, the reaction at home in Atlanta, what's changed in his game, and yes, the most remarkable celebrities that reached out.
Lots to cover, so dive in!
Posted on 20 July 2023
Chats with the Champ: Alex Michelsen, Chicago 2023
The 18-year-old defeated Yuta Shimizu on Sunday in Chicago to win his first Challenger title, and moved inside the top 200 for the first time.
Along the way, he also defeated Li Tu, Aleks Kovacevic, Kei Nishikori, and Jerry Shang. Heckuva week.
Chat with Chris Eubanks coming later this week!
Posted on 18 July 2023
Wimbledon Weather Warrants a Wrecap
Legit question, does anyone read this?
Mike and Noah recap Christopher Eubanks' remarkable win in Mallorca, and then launch in to Wimbledon. The weather has been rough, the courts have been slow, and why the heck was Kontaveit not honored properly?
Mike is off to Taylor Swift before the Chicago Challenger. More next week!
Posted on 7 July 2023
Break Point Part 2, and Behind the Racquet with Alex Bolt
Noah spent the last several days fully analyzing the latest "part" of Break Point. He breaks it down for us, strengths and weaknesses, and we list who we think are the biggest misses from the "profiles" so far.
We do a quick analysis of the differences of qualifying at Wimbledon, versus ACTUAL Wimbledon.
And then, we get in to the meat of of our pod, a rare interview with Alex Bolt. The 30 year old is currently ranked 342 in the world while coming back from injury. He's using a protected ranking this week in Wimbledon qualies, where we hope he finds some joy. In 2019, at Wimby qualies, he played what some say was the match of the century so far, with Jannik Sinner. We talk about that, his break from tennis early in his career to play footie, and much more.
Bolty is a quiet guy, and we're incredibly appreciative of his time and his willingness to chat.
More next week, before Mike heads to Taylor Freaking Swift.
Posted on 26 June 2023
French Open Recap, Blair Henley begins her Commentary takeover, and Alex Lawson knows flags
Alright, LOTS to get to.
Mike and Noah discuss the big topics post RG, including Novak, Iga, Sabalenka's fake indignation, Miyu Kato, new #1 Austin Krajicek, and more...
Then, we get in to Mike's talk with Blair Henley, who did some commentary at the Tyler, Texas Challenger. Finally, dubs specialist Alex Lawson joins Mike and Blair for giggles.
More with Alex Bolt on Monday!
