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 Karue Sell
Karue Sell is a force to be reckoned with. After a successful junior career, and collegiate career, he took a year off, got to about 350 in the world after returning to tennis, stepped away from playing, became Naomi Osaka's hitting partner, founded mytennishq.com with his friend Gui, coached Marcos Giron, and now has restarted his playing career, winning a title in his second tournament back.
This week, he joins us to talk about how your perspective changes as a coach, his massive success online and what that means as he resumes his playing career, and what can change to make tennis a smoother ride.
Don't forget, on Friday, he's competing with Clay Thompson, Bradley Klahn, and Marcos Giron in a exo on mytennishq.com! Watch and subscribe for free!
00:00
Introduction and Background
03:00
Taking a Break from Tennis
06:00
Returning to Compete
11:00
Balancing Coaching and Playing
13:00
Growing My Tennis HQ
16:00
Challenges of Creating Content on the Road
20:00
Future Goals for My Tennis HQ
22:00
Promoting and Growing Tennis at Lower Levels
30:00
Using Platforms to Grow the Sport
33:00
Upcoming Tournaments and Collaboration
Posted on 14 December 2023
I Guess It's Time to do a Podcast Again?
We have a lotttttt to get to, so here are some chapter notes:
0:00 Mike beats Noah in Fantasy
3:30- Noah catches us up on where he's at tennis wise
10:30- Who does Noah most want to play
18:30- The Premiere Tour and why it's likely a disaster
25:45- Mike is headed to Australia and is dealing with existential dread
36:09- Mental Health, Constant Pressure, and No Breaks
41:30- Enjoying the Passage of Time
More with a Special Guest on Wednesday/Thursday!
Posted on 11 December 2023
Chats with the Champ: Zachary Svajda, Tiburon and Fairfield, 2023
Zach moves to ~139 in the rankings with a 10 match winning streak. This is a nice addendum to our full podcast, which is the previous one in your feed!
Posted on 16 October 2023
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!