The Third Set with Mike Cation

Mike here: There are few people that I respect more than Paolo Lorenzi. When I heard that he had made his decision to retire last week here in New York, I can say I was genuinely saddened by the news, but am so, so thrilled that Paolo is moving on to the next phase of his life. He is one of the kindest souls off the court, and one of the more ferocious competitors I've ever witnessed. We discuss t...

Yeah, you heard about it. Noah Rubin decided yeah, sure, I'll play Andy Murray on Sunday after losing a heartbreaker 20 minutes earlier in Winston-Salem. He was lauded for giving it a go, and at least efforting to put on a show for a packed crowd. But the story, and the pressure of that decision, was a lot more exhausting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taylor Townsend's life has been a bit different of late, shifting to a new role as Mom, and also just recently returning to the tennis court! She and Noah go WAY back, and after a bit of reminiscing, we walk through how much her life has changed, her recent "The Players Tribune" article about her prior battles with the USTA, and how she views and sees the recent discussions in the sporting world o...

The boys have a quick chat about Noah's return to competitive tennis, and why it's so important to him again after a difficult stretch. Mike takes a look back at the Atlantic Tire Championships in Cary, North Carolina, some of the surprises and big stories, as well as a quick discussion on Jenson Brooksby, Atlanta, and the potential US Open wild cards. Then we hear Mike's chat with Mitchell Kruege...

Petros Chrysochos is 25 years old, from Cyprus, and is currently ranked 359 in the world on the ATP Tour. But his story is fascinating. A junior top 20 player, an NCAA singles and team champion while at Wake Forest in 2018, and since leaving Wake in 2019, he's played professionally while serving his mandatory service time in the army in Cyprus. Remarkable stuff. He and Noah did not overlap at Wake...

It's been nearly 3 months since Noah and Mike have caught up and discussed issues of the day, so what better time! Here's a little timeline for you, and a note for our patreon supporters, LISTEN TO THE END OF THE SHOW! 2:00- Noah Life Update 6:00- Mike got a cat from the sewer 8:00- Wimby recap, and the Big 3 vs Parity 16:30- The player reaction to Naomi Osaka 22:00- Noah's update on the PTPA Love...

Noah will be back this week, after we air this episode I recorded in Orlando a few weeks ago! Goncalo Oliveira will take us on a ride through a fascinating childhood, to say the least. In some ways, it was living the dream; in others, not so much. He's now on the cusp of being a perennial Grand Slam doubles participant. But that's not the goal yet. He'll explain why, and we'll talk about some of t...

What a treat to have J.C. stop by my house while he was in Tulsa for a Futures this week. Noah joins us by phone from Minnesota. With J.C., we go through his development and time at Virginia, and then to the in depth discussion on how Type 1 diabetes has affected his life on and off the court. It's changed dramatically over the past 10 years, and is he at a new point in his life? Next week on the...

Of note, no Noah this week, as he was both traveling, AND he had Islanders rinkside seats while I knocked out this pod, as well as one with Goncalo Oliveira that we'll post soon. Uli is 23 years old, with a unique childhood that he'll tell you about. Really a fascinating interview, and thanks to everyone for popping in and spending time with me the last couple weeks back on the road! -Mike. Learn...

NOTE: PLEASE EXCUSE THE DOUBLE AUDIO FOR THE FIRST MINUTE OF THE INTERVIEW. I got it sorted out after about a minute or so. -Mike The ankle injury continues to hamper Noah, but Mike trudges on alone on the road, but is joined by Jason Jung, a perennial top 150 player who has found ways over the years to continue to see high level success. It's been a long path, from a highly successful junior care...

It's a big week with Roland Garros qualifying underway in Paris, so we were thrilled to have a few minutes on Sunday to chat with Ellen Perez. Ellen was this week's feature on Behind the Racquet, and we wanted to extend the conversation a bit and see if her effervescent personality and positivity could rub off on the two cynics in the room. Little Rock is on the docket for Mike next week, and Orla...

It's been a pretty damned decent 2021 already for Jenson Brooksby, He's now won three Challenger titles, including both Orlando in Tallahassee in April in back to back weeks ON DIFFERENT SURFACES on the USTA Pro Circuit. Truly remarkable stuff. He hops on the pod to talk with Mike and Noah about where he gets his incredible self belief, learning from early opportunities at Challengers in Northern...

Mike got back out on the road, so he shares his thoughts on the Challengers in Orlando and Tallahassee. Then, we get in to your questions, including Jack Sock's future, the difficulties of scheduling.... and then a LOT of you wanted us to discuss Jenson Brooksby. So we did. And hopefully, we have him hop on with us later in the week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recorded Friday night, Orlando Finalist Denis Kudla joins us to discuss how marriage has changed his life both on and off the court, and given him new perspectives. He also discusses what he learned from a few days away on Necker Island, learning from Richard Branson. And.....hockey talk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both guys are now on the mend, after Mike gives you the details on his recent medical trauma. Hoooobi is the champion in Miami. What does it mean for what's popular in tennis? We debate development routes, focusing on the path taken by Sebastian Korda and how to make it accessible to more people. And finally, yes, how good is women's tennis right now at the top? Learn more about your ad choices. V...

After Jeremy Lin's comments recently about being an Asian-American in the NBA, we wanted to explore the same topic in the tennis world, and we brought on Thai-Son Kwiatkowski to dissect the issue. It's never a comfortable discussion, but a pretty damned crucial one. We also, unexpectedly, went in to some rather deep discussions on the mental health difficulties Thai has faced, and that MANY player...

After food poisoning wrekt Noah for a week, the boys get back together to mark one year in to the pandemic and still survival mode in terms of the structure at the top of tennis. Where's the cohesion? Benoit Paire's comments about a lack of passion for the current state of the ATP drew a lot of attention, but was he right? The ATP put out an infographic this week, claiming that players ranked 100-...

The pandemic has been difficult for the entire tennis community, and has been well documented. But when @annak4ever posted a graphic this week about the lack of "Challenger level" opportunities for women (just 3 tournaments in the 60-100K prize range from January through March!), it really opened Mike's eyes to the incredible lack of upward mobility available right now on the women's side. There's...

It's Noah's 25th birthday, so the boys get together to celebrate, recap the AO, and recap the last several weeks on multiple different levels. -Novak's GOAT status -Naomi's GOAT status -Brady and Aslan and what it means for "Challenger players" -Why didn't Noah play last week. Love from us to you. We appreciate you, very much. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks so much for the support of the Behind the Racquet Podcast. You can help by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod. This week's guest is 23 year old Will Blumberg, who won a national title with his North Carolina Tar Heel teammates at the ITA Division 1 Men's National Indoor Championships in Champaign. His pro career got delayed by covid, but it's just around the corner. We'll talk about t...

Luke Saville and his partner Max Purcell won seven Challenger doubles titles in 2019, and moved up around 30 spots in the ATP rankings. But they received a much deserved wild card to the 2020 Australian Open, and fought their way to a Grand Slam final. One year later, the 27 year old (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAV!) prepares to defend those points in next week's AO; but first, he's part of Team Australia in...

When Noah Rubin and Stefan Kozlov met in the Wimbledon 2014 final, it was thought to be one of the many steps in the progression for Stefan Kozlov, at the tender age of 16. Later that year, he knocked off his first top 100 player in Tim Smyczek, on the way to a CHALLENGER FINAL in Sacramento. Some good runs at ATP events followed, a couple Challenger titles, and then he suddenly just slowly recede...

A quick note from your editor, Mike: There was a major issue with Noah's recorder in Delray halfway through, along with another issue which you'll hear about....so there's a noticeable audio difference when we had to switch to a cell line. Apologies, it's all we could do in a rushed situation. Now, a big thanks to our latest patreon sponsor, Steve Quick. He and our other patreon sponsors will be r...

Young American Reilly Opelka spoke with Mike during a trip to NorCal back in 2018. A heck of a lot has changed since then. He'd just started his foray in to fashion, but he's now a force on the Tour, with a couple of ATP titles in his pocket, and one of the most feared serves in the sport. We talked to him about his growing health concerns, how he's adjusting to them, and where the sport is after...

Jared Donaldson is just 24 years old, but has been out of action for essentially two years, since originally hurting his knee in the summer of 2018. It's not been a smooth process for him on the road to recovery. He walks us through his prognosis, and the reality of what's staring him in the face. He also goes in the way back machine with his former Jr Davis Cup teammate Noah Rubin to discuss thei...