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 pod, Goncalo Oliveira.

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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.

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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 career, to a college career that didn't quite hit those big expectations, to a real life job, and then yes, on to a really strong professional career.

We talked through that journey, and how difficult it's been coming back from the six month pandemic hiatus both on court, and off. And we also walked through what it's meant for him when he changed nationalities in 2015.

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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 Orlando immediately following, so we'll have a couple more in person chats coming up.

Thanks as always for the continued support!

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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 California, and how and why he's as vocal as he is on the court.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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 players on tour are facing, especially those 150+ in the rankings.

As always, we REALLY appreciate your support, texts, tweets, DMs, and all through this last year. Hope we have some more interactions soon!

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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 100-250 made 60% more money from August to February than they had a year before. That can't be right, can it Noah?

Thanks to all of our patreon supporters! You can further the cause by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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