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.
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!
Posted on 14 June 2023
Winner's Circle with Nicolas Moreno De Alboran
Nicolas Moreno De Alboran defeated Mikhail Kukushkin in 3 grueling sets on Sunday in Tyler, Texas to win his second career Challenger title. Before he had to run to catch a flight, he chats with Mike about what it means to get a title on home turf, be at a new career high (142), and how he solved the riddle of Kukushkin.
Posted on 12 June 2023
Winner's Circle with Mark Lajal
Mike sat down with Mark Lajal after he won his first Challenger title at the UAMS Health Little Rock Open. The 20 year old became just the second Estonian to win an ATP Challenger title, behind Jurgen Zopp. We talked about what this means at this stage of his career, handling expectations, and, yes, his hair.
More this week from Tyler, Texas
Posted on 7 June 2023
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.
