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The Third Set with Mike Cation
by Mike Cation
The Third Set is an interview podcast with host, tennis commentator Mike Cation. This is the third installment of the pod, formerly known as the Coffee Cast with Cation, and Behind the Racquet with Mike and Noah Rubin. Previous episodes date back to 2017. We'll be chatting with some of the most interesting people in tennis, and hopefully giving you some behind the scenes glimpses at life on tour.
Episodes
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Behind the Racquet with Nate Lammons
Nate Lammons is one of my favorite people to run in to at every tournament. He's down to earth, not impressed by pretense, and just a good human to be around. He also happens to be one of the top 20 doubles players in the world. We chopped it up about his rise to that level, and some of the top...
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Behind the Racquet with Nishesh Basavareddy
This week's guest is Nishesh Basavareddy, a 19 year old from Carmel, Indiana, currently ranked (as of July 29, 2024) 296 in the world. He's reached two Challenger Finals (Fairfield 2023 and Bloomfield Hills 2024) in his very young career, helped lead the Stanford Cardinal the last two seasons…
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Behind the Racquet with Marcus Willis
Marcus Willis is a 33 year old from Slough, Great Britain, ranked 116 in the world. He is a 5 time (at this moment) Challenger doubles champion. Once, he made it to the second round of Wimbledon. Those two sentences don't begin to sum up the man with some of the best hands in tennis. Marcus sat...
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Behind the Racquet with Tristan Boyer
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...
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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...
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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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Chats with the Champ: Alex Michelsen, Chicago 2023
The 18-year-old defeated Yuta Shimizu on Sunday in Chicago to win his first Challenger title, and moved inside the top 200 for the first time. Along the way, he also defeated Li Tu, Aleks Kovacevic, Kei Nishikori, and Jerry Shang. Heckuva week. Chat with Chris Eubanks coming later this week!…
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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...
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Behind the Racquet with Grant Chen
Grant Chen is now the Head Coach for the men's tennis team at SMU. He came to Dallas after a legendary run from the team manager for UCLA, all the way to Associate Head Coach. He also helps run the Dallas Open, and multiple USTA Pro Circuit events at the Styslinger Altec Tennis Complex in Dallas…
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Behind the Racquet with Mackenzie McDonald
Mackenzie "Mackie" McDonald is 27 years old from Northern California, ranked 53 in the world as of March 6th. He was the NCAA singles and doubles champion at UCLA in 2016, winning the doubles with Martin Redlicki (a former BTR Pod guest, now coaching at Oklahoma State). Mackie joined us from…
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2022 Recap Pt 1: Davis Cup Kerfuffle, Misogyny, and an emotional end to the year
Quite an end to the year, although did the year ever really "end" A slew of exhibitions, Davis Cup distractions for the US, and really questionable (at best) words from a few top male stars. More next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Behind the Racquet with Sam Riffice
The always mature Sam Riffice joins Mike during his run to the semifinals in Fairfield, California. They talked about his childhood in Sacramento, his strong family structure, and what he's learned from his fiance, Cici Bellis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Noah Reveals His New Path- Pickleball
Well, it was quite a revelation last week when Noah Rubin announced he'd start playing pickleball. He finally sits down with Mike to discuss the whys, the people who are rooting against him, and what tennis can learn from pickle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Zachary Svajda Wins his First Challenger Title
Zachary Svajda won the Tiburon Challenger with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Ben Shelton on Sunday. The 19-year-old grabbed his first Challenger title in the process, and has moved to roughly 255 in the world. It was a crazy match, and Zach sits down with Mike to discuss the match, as well as the...
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Fed, Foe, and Finally some Challenger Changes
We talk over Fed's retirement at the Laver Cup, the absolutely inexcusable abuse thrown toward Frances Tiafoe after he beat Fed in his final match. And we walk through some of the changes to the Challengers coming in 2023. TLDR: Mike is optimistic, Noah, shockingly, is not. Jason Kubler next.…
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Noah Rubin steps away. And so did some other guy.
Well now that the announcement is out there, Noah talks us through why he's stepping away from tennis, and what he'll miss most. We also talk about Fed's retirement decision, and what he's meant to both of us in our respective careers, including Noah's meeting with him at the Australian Open…
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Behind the Racquet with Enzo Couacaud with Guest Host Christopher Eubanks
Guest Host Christopher Eubanks guides us through the career of French tennis star Enzo Couacaud, and take you Behind the Racquet to tell you his story. Things get interesting when they start talking about the French generation of Monfils, Tsonga, Gasquet and others, and what "greatness" is. And...
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Behind the Racquet with Andrew Harris
The body has not been kind to Andrew Harris over the years. Back issues have limited his ability to play a full schedule since an incredible junior and college career, in Australia, and then Oklahoma. He's still hesitant to use the word specialist, but he's cognizant that this may give him the...
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What's it like to face Nick Kyrgios
Tsitsipas and Kyrgios' Saturday clash once again highlighted how players all have different interpretations of what's OK on court. Mike and Noah go through it to sort out what's needed to fix that issue. And Noah gives us his take on what it's like to face Kyrgios. More next week from Rome,...
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Look who's back. It's Noah! Wimby, dumbing down of surfaces, and the US summer swing
Noah rejoins us after his three month sojourn to introspection. We go through the Wimbledon controversies, how the surfaces now all feel alike, and talk about the upcoming summer here in the states. And as a quick bonus, Mike's daughter Marnie pops on to say hello and give her take on Noah, Chris...
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Behind the Racquet with Blair Henley
We go Behind the Racquet this week with presenter, commentator, personality, and fantastic human being Blair Henley to talk about the challenges of being a parent in the tennis media business, and finding the happy medium of social media presence versus wanting to have good time when we're away...
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Behind the Racquet with JJ Wolf
A Noah-less episode this week, as Mike talks with former Ohio State star JJ Wolf from Little Rock, Arkansas, site of this week's Baptist Health Little Rock Open. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jack Sock on his Savannah Title
A quick 7 minute interview with Jack Sock after he won the Savannah Challenger on Sunday, before our full episode with Somdev Devvarman, which will be released on Tuesday. Also, an update on us pausing our patreon page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Iga, Carlito, and Mike meets a Hero
Noah and Mike catch up on the misbehavior of some of Noah's contemporaries, and discuss Iga and Carlos' victories in Miami, along with some stories from on the ground from Mike. More coming from Tallahassee in a couple weeks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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We've got a LOT to catch up on, don't we?
Noah and Mike reconvene after a month apart. We discuss: Mike's first time as an on court reporter, in Acapulco Kristie Ahn's retirement, and the potential for a few more Sascha Zverev's incident in Acapulco How the war in Ukraine will effect the tennis world Naomi Osaka, and mental health breaks...
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Behind the Racquet with Filip Peliwo
A quick recap from Noah on his last several weeks on the road before we talk with the now 28-year-old from Vancouver, who had a dominant junior career with four slam finals in a year, with two titles. Mike will be in Dallas on Sunday (weather permitting) so hopefully we can meet up if everything...
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Emergency Pod on Novak Decision: Not Great, Bob
Mike and Noah take on the Novak crisis (as of Monday Jan 10 in the morning), and decry the fact that this continues to make tennis look bad. And what about everyone else who did the right thing. And WHAT ABOUT THE TENNIS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Stefan Kozlov wins the Australian Open Wild Card
This week, hear Mike's interview with Stefan Kozlov, who won the USTA's reciprocal wild card to the Australian Open by virtue of a final, title, and title over the last 4 weeks in Vegas, Charlottesville, and Champaign. We've also got an interview with Christopher Eubanks, winner of the Knoxville...
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Vasek Pospisil on the state of the PTPA and how it impacts Challengers and Futures
One of the co-founders of the PTPA, Vasek Pospisil, joins Mike and Noah from Charlottesville, where he's the top seed at the Charlottesville Men's Pro Challenger. Our half hour chat didn't even begin to get in to the full depths of the PTPA and how it fits in to the tennis landscape. But Vasek…
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Mary Carillo on the Zverev Allegations and Tennis Journalism
We dive in deep to the legendary commentator's decision to resign from her commentary duties with the Laver Cup this past weekend. You'll hear her explain why with regard to the domestic abuse allegations against Alex Zverev, and why that decision, and others in her career, have been so important...
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Behind the Racquet with Goncalo Oliveira
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Ulises Blanch
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Jason Jung
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Ellen Perez
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Jenson Brooksby
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...
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Welcome Back Cation
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Denis Kudla
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...
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Yea?
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...
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Tara Moore and ITF Inequality
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...
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Behind the Racquet with Stefan Kozlov
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.…
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Ay yo, what's the deal with the AO?
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? Learn more about your ad choices....
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Dispatches from Cary Part 2
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...
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Michael Mmoh is alive and well
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...
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Behind the Behind the Racquet Tour
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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Pondering the ATP Player Council Picks
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 Learn more about your ad choices....
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The Jump with Emilio Gomez
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…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Third Set is an interview podcast with host, tennis commentator Mike Cation. This is the third installment of the pod, formerly known as the Coffee Cast with Cation, and Behind the Racquet with Mike and Noah Rubin. Previous episodes date back to 2017.
We'll be chatting with some of the most interesting people in tennis, and hopefully giving you some behind the scenes glimpses at life on tour.
HOSTED BY
Mike Cation
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Third Set with Mike Cation have?
The Third Set with Mike Cation currently has 213 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Third Set with Mike Cation about?
The Third Set is an interview podcast with host, tennis commentator Mike Cation. This is the third installment of the pod, formerly known as the Coffee Cast with Cation, and Behind the Racquet with Mike and Noah Rubin. Previous episodes date back to 2017. We'll be chatting with some of the most...
How often does The Third Set with Mike Cation release new episodes?
The Third Set with Mike Cation publishes regularly with 213 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Third Set with Mike Cation?
You can listen to The Third Set with Mike Cation on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Third Set with Mike Cation?
The Third Set with Mike Cation is created and hosted by Mike Cation.
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