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 Alex Michelsen
	18 year old Alex Michelsen (pronounced like the golfer) joins Mike on the eve of the Little Rock Challenger, where he'll attempt to have a decent week to get in to Wimbledon qualies. He's already reached a Challenger final in Rome, has wins over former top 10 players Pouille and Sock, and is ready to enroll at the University of Georgia in the fall. We talk about his confidence, his on court improvement, and what he likes to do off the court. And yes, we talk about how he's processing the college decision as a potential top 250 player.
	Posted on 29 May 2023
	The (nearing) Retirement Episode, with Bradley Klahn and Bjorn Fratangelo
	With Rafael Nadal announcing he would miss Roland Garros, and (likely) shut it down at the end of 2024, Noah and Mike are joined by Bjorn Fratangelo and Bradley Klahn, two American veterans who are in the back end of their tennis careers. We talked about how they viewed the retirement question, what they thought about Rafa's comments about enjoying one last run, and how challenging it is to retire on your terms if you're NOT Rafa or Roger.
	Posted on 23 May 2023
	Expansion by Subtraction
	Lots to catch up on for the boys this week. We start by answering Noah's question on whether the Alcaraz upset Monday shows that we haven't been respecting "The Big 3" enough. Are Carlos and Iga "Generational Talents?" Expectation, success, and hyperbole all on display lately. We also hit the blatant sexism in Madrid, and Mike pleas with the new owners of the Western and Southern Open to keep it in Cincy. Next week, we'll announce a giveaway of a Daniil Medvedev used ball from the day he became #1 in the world!
	Posted on 16 May 2023
	Patrick Kypson wins the USTA Wild Card for Roland Garros
	Patrick Kypson reached his second Challenger semifinal in 4 weeks in Savannah, and in doing so, he earned the USTA's reciprocal wild card to the French Open. But he had to sweat on Sunday, as Tristan Boyer could have surpassed him had he won the Savannah title. We chat with him about what it means to win the Wild Card at this stage in his career, and his favorite pastime, smoking meats.
	Posted on 2 May 2023
	Zizou Bergs Wins The Tallahassee Challenger
	Zizou Bergs is a 23 year old from Belgium who won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger on Sunday in straight sets over Tung-Lin Wu. During the event, he didn't lose a single set, while clinching his fifth Challenger title. It was an emotional moment for Zizou, who recently lost his grandfather. We talk about the week ,his style, and what this one means to him.
	Posted on 24 April 2023
	Behind the Racquet with Christopher Eubanks
	The 26-year-old from Atlanta sits down with the boys post Miami to talk about the process of getting to the top 100 for the first time in his career after his quarterfinal run. A huge achievement, so we discuss how it happened philosophically, and technically.
	Posted on 3 April 2023
	Behind the Racquet of Gender Finances with Jamie Loeb
	Jamie Loeb rejoins the show to gives us the full details of what financial inequalities look like at the lower levels of tennis, after Denis Shapovalov helped bring it to light in his recent article. We got in to the intricacies of what that looks like at tournaments that have both men's and women's events at the Challenger level, and how some of the finances break down, and why. We also explored some other reasons WHY the financial inequities might be happening, and most importantly, Mike's daughter Marnie hops on to ask some questions of the Dynamic Jew-o.
	Posted on 20 March 2023
	Behind the Racquet with Grant Chen
	Grant Chen is now the Head Coach for the men's tennis team at SMU. He came to Dallas after a legendary run from the team manager for UCLA, all the way to Associate Head Coach. He also helps run the Dallas Open, and multiple USTA Pro Circuit events at the Styslinger Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas as well. Further, he's about as connected as anyone can be. You'll see him in the box from time to time for Grigor Dimitrov, he's tight with John Isner, and many others. So Mike sat down with him to find out what makes him go, how he's gotten to this point, and what tennis means to him.
	Posted on 14 March 2023
	Behind the Racquet with Mackenzie McDonald
	Mackenzie "Mackie" McDonald is 27 years old from Northern California, ranked 53 in the world as of March 6th. He was the NCAA singles and doubles champion at UCLA in 2016, winning the doubles with Martin Redlicki (a former BTR Pod guest, now coaching at Oklahoma State). Mackie joined us from Indian Wells, with the draw coming out later today.
	Posted on 6 March 2023
	Behind the Racquet with Alexis Galarneau
	Mike here- This pod got DRASTICALLY delayed (totally on me), but this pod was recorded in Melbourne immediately following qualifying, as Alexis was headed towards the airport. The guy is an incredibly hard worker, super positive, and it was fun learning a little bit more about what took him to NC State (not a traditional tennis powerhouse), and has him inside the top 200 in the world. More next week!
	Posted on 27 February 2023