Behind the Racquet Pod

Mike Cation & Noah Rubin/Tennis Channel Podcast Network

Telling you the stories of tennis Behind the Racquet.

  • 52 minutes 54 seconds
    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.

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    29 April 2024, 7:00 pm
  • 13 minutes 10 seconds
    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.

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    15 April 2024, 7:00 am
  • 46 minutes 14 seconds
    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!

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    12 March 2024, 8:00 am
  • 42 minutes 2 seconds
    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!

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    4 March 2024, 10:00 pm
  • 34 minutes 56 seconds
    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.

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    21 February 2024, 6:00 pm
  • 51 minutes 51 seconds
    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.

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    13 February 2024, 9:00 am
  • 32 minutes 31 seconds
    Behind the Racquet with Robert Galloway

    31-year-old Robert Galloway is a top 50 doubles player from South Carolina. His path took him a different route than most. He was at the peak in the 12s, stepped away from the game, and found his way back as a college star at Wofford University. As a doubles specialist straight out of college, it's a long, hard road to the top 50. Robby G takes us through his journey, with some detours as we discuss the Australian Open, the Zverev player council issue, and much more!

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    5 February 2024, 10:00 am
  • 1 hour 7 minutes
    Year 6; Episode 1. Noah Finally Returns; An AO Recap; What to do with Zverev

    Only a month in to the year, we get back after it. Lots to get to, here's a rundown.

    Open- Mike's AO

    12:00- Noah Returns to Professional Tennis

    28:35- Australian Open Recap; We're in Good Hands

    43:50- Quick outlandish predictions from Mike and Noah; Ethan Quinn and Tommy Paul

    48:00- Sascha Zverev

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    29 January 2024, 8:00 pm
  • 37 minutes 18 seconds
    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


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    14 December 2023, 8:00 am
  • 44 minutes
    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!

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    11 December 2023, 8:00 am
  • 9 minutes 58 seconds
    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!

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    16 October 2023, 7:00 am
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