Mike (Cation) here. I've known Michael Kosta since I started working in tennis, right out of college, when Craig Tiley asked me to be the public address announcer for the University of Illinois Men's Tennis team, in 2001. He and Amer Delic came in to work on a pre-match CD of music, and we talked, and I immediately started pushing for him to join our radio morning show from time to time, because he was just hilarious.

25 years later, and Kosta has achieved some incredible things, with multiple comedy specials, and now as a correspondent and host on the Daily Show. And now, as he promotes his new book Lucky Loser, we have our first interview together in 22 years.

Enjoy.

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This podcast drops as Federico Gomez is just about an hour away from his first Australian Open appearance, taking on Joao Fonseca in the first round of qualies here on a Tuesday in Melbourne.

His route is an unusual one, having gone through a junior college to Louisville to the business world path, before breaking out in 2024 with three challenger titles, creeping closer and closer to the top 100 for the first time in his career.

More coming up next week!

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First, unfortunately, Mike's mic shut down in recording, so as the least important person on the pod (Noah and Tristan agree on this)..his voice will sound shaky today.

Tristan Boyer is a 23 year old out of Southern California, ranked 231 in the world. In a few weeks, he'll play in Roland Garros qualifying for the first time in his career, just his second career grand slam appearance (after the US Open Qs last year). Just over one year ago, he was ranked 1500 in the world heading in to the green clay Challengers in the states, and reached the Savannah final to really start his professional career.

We talked with Tristan about his more unique training in South American, his departure from Stanford, and what he's focusing on as his career gets underway in earnest.

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It's been a while, so Noah and Mike have some catching up to do.

Noah brings you all the latest info the players have received when it comes to the Australian Open. Hint: It's still a little dicey.

Plus the schedule for 2021 is way up in the air. What's it mean?

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In part 2 of our dispatches from Cary, Noah and Mike chat with Denis Kudla (who is in the final on Sunday at the Atlantic Tire Championships in Cary), doubles specialist Nate Lammons, Jack Sock's coach and former top 100 player Alex Bogomolov, Jr., and top 70 doubles star Luke Bambridge.

More coming up next week from Orlando!

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On a rainy day in Cary on Wednesday, Noah and Mike chatted with eight different players for mini-interviews, culminating with the more serious question of how to improve the quality of life and opportunity for Challengers, and Challenger level players. On Part 1, we chat with Christopher Eubanks, Hunter Reese, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, and Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Part 2 will be released on Monday, with thoughts from Luke Bambridge, Denis Kudla, Alex Bogomolov, Jr, and Nate Lammons.

Thanks so much to our patreon sponsors. You can help the podcast by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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As Challenger tennis returns to the US this week in beautiful Cary, North Carolina, Noah and Mike sit down with returning finalist Michael Mmoh to talk about his covid break, how his runs in Cary and Knoxville in 2019 changed his perspective, his long term development, his relationship with his parents, and yes, Frances Tiafoe's note from Saturday that Mike was MIA.

Disclosure: This podcast was recorded outdoors, and socially distanced. We're incredibly thankful to our patreon supporters and others who have allowed for us to have good enough equipment to sit six feet apart from each other, or further, and have a good discussion without having to shout. It's such an incredible luxury in this difficult time. But all safety precautions were taken to make sure the three of us were safe and apart from each other, while also still having a healthy, and well heard, discussion.

You can help us grown the podcast by becoming a patreon supporter as well, by visiting patreon.com/BehindTheRacquetPod. We remain overwhelmed and appreciative of all the support, big and small, especially in this challenging time of covid.

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Native Californian CiCI Bellis' injury battles through 2018-9 are well documented, going through four surgeries on her arm. After withdrawing before her semifinal match Saturday at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Tyler, Texas, CiCi joined Noah and Mike for a chat about her preparation for this week's event in Charleston, how she's handling the schedule post Covid-hiatus, and her newfound fame on the cooking circuit!

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Last week, Behind the Racquet founder Noah Rubin announced the BTR Tour, his vision for a reimagined tennis experience. Today, Mike presses him on the details behind the larger vision, including the details of BTR Tour weekend, and whether it's a long term competitor for the ATP and WTA Tours.

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Just a slew to unpack this week, in this order

1) The French results, Iga on BTR, Nadal's achievement at the French

2) The return of the USTA Pro Circuit

3) PTPA vs the New Player Council

4) Mental Health Awareness Week and where Noah and Mike are in that regard

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28 year old Emilio Gomez made tennis headlines last week after qualifying for the French Open for the first time in his career. The story gained traction because it's where his Dad Andres won a grand slam title in 1990.

But Emilio's story has had a much longer progression. How has that progression helped or hindered him, and where does his relationship with his father go from here?

As always, thanks to our patreon sponsors, including this week's new sponsor, Matthew Sellwood. You can join us at patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod

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Noah lost a tough one to Ivo Karlovic. To Mike's delight, the gentle giant threw in THREE underarm serves. We'll get Noah's take on his French Open experience, what's next, and what the hell is going on with the French Open balls?

Then the boys discuss the complete lack of consistency pointed out this week by former guest Gaby Dabrowski, among others, on medical protocols from week to week. What's the ATP telling it's players? Noah tells us.

Then, Mike takes on some wild tangents, because that's what Mike does when he has little sleep.

HUGE thanks to our latest patreon sponsors, Scott Cole, and Lee Stanley. You can help support the pod by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod

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It's not a great start to the French Open, with multiple positive tests, and more questions about the bubbles and the rules than answers. Noah Rubin invites us inside the bubble as he prepares for a first round qualifying matchup with Dr. Ivo on Monday.

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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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A week after he leaves the bubble, Noah Rubin reflects on his times at the Open, while Mike appears to have a different view entirely. The boys dissect their reflections on it.

And Mike was moved immensely by Naomi Osaka, but also wondered if it's possible for someone like Noah, or any player around 200 in the world, to have an impact socially, if they don't win at the highest level.

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Thoughts on the bubble?

Thoughts on the play?

Should the Paire 11 have been removed from the tournament?

Noah sounds off, once again

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Noah breaks news on a Sunday, explaining what ramifications are coming from Benoit Paire's positive covid test.

And yes, you saw Noah in his BTR shirt in the PTPA photo. Why was he there????

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Noah has received a wild card in to the US Open Doubles Draw.

Mike has received an offer to broadcast the US Open.

All good news!

Dr. Katz helps the guys out and gives them tips on how to survive the bubble, and appreciate the opportunity.

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Noah Rubin details some of the problems he's heard from players in Prague, the site of the first Challenger tournament as the ATP and WTA return to action throughout the world.

Plus, we talk about some of the latest Behind the Racquet's features, and whether Noah envisions himself retiring with a lack of opportunities in front of him.

Thanks again to all of our incredibly supportive Patreons. You can be a part of it by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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26 year old Liam Broady prepares for the restart of tennis as the 211th ranked player in the world, and unsure about how the quarantine rules will affect him over the next few months. He recently created a stir by flipping off Andy Murray. He's a possible male model. 

The pride of Stockport joins Noah and Mike to discuss those topics, and what he's learned from the Battle of the Brits, Andy Murray, and his trips through the states.

Thanks again to all of our patreon sponsors. You too can be a sponsor by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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We check back in with Noah in New York, and Mike in Tulsa, with the 31st Palermo Ladies Open underway, officially resuming the ATP/WTA seasons. The US Open is three weeks away, with the entry lists being released Monday.

But what about those outside looking in. How do they improve? How do they improve? How does Noah get to the Australian Open main draw next year?

Thanks again to our new patreon sponsors, Steve Quick, Cheryl Harris, Jeremy Koufakis, and Kline Sack.

You can help support the pod by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod

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Our Ask Us Anything brought a great question that needed some further discussion. So Dr. Jonathan Katz, Mental Health Advisor and Performance Coach for Behind The Racquet, joins us to answer this question from Jack Wichtendahl:

How do you stay motivated for something you’re not sure is going to come back, and even it does, you know it’s not going to be the same because of the coronavirus?

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-Has tennis helped you get through a tough period in your life?

-Favorite tournaments?

-Superstitions?

-Jewish legacy in tennis?

We hop around quite a bit in this one, but what FANTASTIC QUESTIONS from our patreon supporters this week.

Later this week, expect an episode with Mental Health Advisor and Performance Coach Dr. Jonathan Katz, answering one of the submitted questions.

Thanks so much to our patreon supporters. You can join them, by visiting patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetPod

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Thank you SOOOOO much to our patreon supporters, first and foremost, including those that supported this week.

On Monday, Noah is traveling to Tulsa for a non-podcast reason. But it is going to allow us to record what could be our lone in-person podcast for the rest of 2020. SOOOOOO.

It's your turn. You get to ask us anything you could possibly want.

Patreon supporters get first dibs. We'll be sending out an email on how patreon supporters can ask their questions, and then social media questions from there.

You can also email us at: contact@behindtheracquet.com, or mike@mikectennis.com

Cool?

Cool.

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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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This was supposed to be a week for us on positivity, and some of the things that make this sport so memorable and positive for us.

That changed with the positive Covid test for Frances Tiafoe in Atlanta.

So, this week, Mike takes the reigns to rant against the idea that so many exhibitions are having as much influence on the sport as they are.

Noah brings us home with the positivity,

Don't forget, support the podcast at patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetPod

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Lots to discuss with longtime coach Brad Stine, including how he's kept Tommy Paul focused during the pandemic, his coaching progression, and more importantly, how and whether tennis should resume.

Stine takes issue with some of the boys' points on ways to improve and improvise the sport during the pandemic, and gives insight on how the rankings might play out during the rest of the year and in to 2021.

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We introduce you today to Dr. Jonathan Katz, a member of the BTR team who will take us on a journey of exploring mental health in athletics.

Today, we talk about the impacts of social media on us all in the midst of the pandemic, as well as the challenges facing athletes, specifically tennis players, when they return to the field of competition.

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Important to note, we had to record BEFORE Grigor Dimitrov tested positive for Covid-19. Which is too bad, as we have some damned thoughts.

But, hear Noah's surprising take on whether the Open should go on or not, and how he's combatted the Novak fans he argued with through the last week.

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Noah Rubin likes to take us Behind the Racquet, today he's taking us behind the scenes of the ATP's phone call to discuss the US Open with 400 pros. Hear details of what was discussed, and Noah's opinions on the options.

Noah's also received criticism from Novak's fam, hear why, and see if you agree.

And Mike explores regional slams just a little bit more in depth.

As always, thanks to our fantastic patreon sponsors. You can help support the pod and our future endeavours at patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetpod

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A difficult topic parsed by Noah and his longtime friend Phillip Simmonds, taking a look at race in the sport of tennis, and how it affects the players and fans.

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Lots to catch up on for Noah and Mike, and so they hit the Muzza/Nick instagram live, Reilly Opelka's momentous and page turning interview in Racquet mag, and whether Noah will be hitting at any exos.

We also thank our incredibly kind and generous patreon donors, who have helped sustain us, literally and figuratively, the last couple months. You can donate at patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod

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Quick tech note: Mike's recorder went wayward the first few minutes. It restarted a few minutes, the audio is clean about 7 minutes in.

Now.

This is Mental Health Week for the Behind the Racquet.

Join Noah as he explores mental health from a variety of perspectives, with special guests on the Behind the Racquet Instagram live:

All times Eastern:

Monday 2PM Dr. Jonathan Katz

Tuesday 2PM: Sven Groeneveld

Wednesday 2PM: Marcos Baghdatis

Thursday 5PM: Reilly Opelka

Friday 2PM: Marco Trungelliti

Any questions, join Noah and discuss!

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Lots to unpack with Evan King (Career High #181, All-American at the University of Michigan, from Chicago, Illinois)

1) His (editor's note: HORRIBLE) decision to attend Michigan instead of the home state school of Illinois.

2) His willingness to travel the globe in his professional career.

3) What it's been like playing in Florida exhibitions the last two weeks in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Three topics to hit today:

1) the whirlwind over the Coco Gauff BTR and Noah's learning moment

2) The odd exhibition tennis down in Florida last weekend

3) The 6 million dollar payments for lower ranked players, and how it's just a bandaid.

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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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Limits are getting pushed indeed.

For Mike, it's the all too familiar feel of depression that's hit pretty hard.

For Noah, it's a level of frustration with the leaders of tennis.

Listen, react, and reach out.

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Wide ranging chat with the pride of Carmel, Indiana Rajeev Ram this week. Mike gets to chat all things University of Illinois with one of the legends from the undefeated National Championship team of 2003, and Noah looks ahead with the Australian Open champion about how the sport might be changing due to the pandemic delay.

Huge thank you to our patreon supporters this week. We're so thankful for the support in this difficult time, and if you're able, we'd appreciate your support too. Go to patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetPod

<3 Mike and Noah

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Our weekly check in today is essentially therapy time for Mike, while Noah is taking his discussions to a large group of players. Hear what he's discussing with them, and how the guys are handling their time sidelined, and without an income source.

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Two caveats here:

1) As we always want to point out, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our society. This discussion is meant to look at some of the tennis issues surrounding how the sport is affected by Coronavirus.

2) Noah and Mike had some technical issues that we couldn't quite solve, so we had to record this one over skype, so the audio quality is not what we'd like to have.

Gaby Dabrowski was a delight. She takes us inside some of the WTA Player Council discussions about income distribution, scheduling, doubles rankings, and how she's coping as a human with all of the questions surrounding her career with the coronavirus delaying tennis, and really, life.

Don't forget our patreon page, www.patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

We will get to all of our incredibly generous patreons in our next episode over the weekend. We promise!

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The caveats are important here. Nothing, in terms of discussing the what ifs of tennis, matters as much as the health of humans, and how we move forward as a society.

That being said, Mike and Noah talk a bit this week about how they're personally being impacted, and how the decision making processes by the various entities in the sport are drastically underrepresenting its players.

Personal note from Mike: Apologies for not properly thanking all of our incredible patreon supporters in this week's episode. I will make sure to make that right next week.

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Noah jumps about 25 spots in the rankings after a GREAT week in Indian Wells.

Naturally, he's headed to Hawaii.

And yes, the coronavirus is weighing heavily on our minds. First, both of us are quite aware that the human toll, in casualties, illnesses, and the like are far more important. But the impact that tennis players outside the top 50 feel, are similar to the impacts that many of our listeners feel. So we riff on it for a bit.

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A couple of things to hit on this week's edition of 15-all:

Noah's in to the third round (at the time of recording) at the Indian Wells Challenger

He's still seeing some unhappiness amongst is peers. Is he happy?

HUGE thank yous to our new patreon sponsors!!!

And Mike is starting to panic a bit about the coronavirus.

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Lots to discuss with Thai-Son Kwiatkowski on the eve of the stacked Indian Wells Challenger. He won Newport Beach earlier this year after a difficult 2019 mentally. How did he turn it around.

Also, he immediately went to Japan after winning that tile, and not for an individual event. Find out why.

Thanks for all the support of the podcast since the launch of our new name and patreon last week. We're extremely appreciative, more than we can express.

If you want to support the cast, visit www.patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetPod, or donate directly by visiting paypal.me/behindtheracquetpod.

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Things are changing for us. We've rebranded as the Behind the Racquet Pod. And what better guest to get to mark the occasion than Ernesto Escobedo, the first person ever to be featured on Behind the Racquet.

We talk about his decision to be the first on BTR, what it's meant to be a Mexican-American star, and his unique ability with a football.

And don't forget to check out our new patreon page, at patreon.com/BehindtheRacquetPod

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After a good week at the DBO, Noah is off this week to rest his body, but at a VERY costly price.

Plus, Noah and Mike offer their takes on clay court specialists, after Nick Kyrgios' controversial clay court take last weekend.

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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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Just hours before Noah's 2020 tour level debut in Delray Beach, we chat about his big weekend qualifying, and why saying "focus" to your player might be the worst thing possible!

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Noah got a win, his first after a stress reaction in his elbow last year. How does he feel?

And can you ACTUALLY silence the haters?

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Mitchell Krueger's road has not always been easy. But a return home, a strong relationship, and a commitment to himself have allowed him to persevere. Hear from DFW's finest in this week's Pod.

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