Noah Rubin’s “Behind The Racquet” • With • Marcus Daniell | Tennis 10sBalls

 

Editor’s note: 10sBalls thanks Noah Rubin for giving us permission to repost these great stories. We wish him and this endeavor the best of luck. Great seeing Noah wearing K-Swiss and playing Solinco Strings.

 

“Growing up on a farm in rural New Zealand my tennis childhood was a little atypical. Through my early teens I was more interested in surfing and snowboarding than grand slams. I played soccer, nationally, alongside tennis until I was 15. When the NZ soccer federation told me I had to train year-round with them it forced me to choose between tennis or soccer. Tennis won out. I was drawn to its gladiatorial aspect and self-sufficiency. I missed soccer and its team aspect like crazy for years afterwards, and actually had to stop following the premier league because it was making me too sad. I moved away from my country home to a boarding school 8 hours drive away in Auckland City so I could do what I then considered proper tennis training, which in hindsight was very minimal. When I finished school I was consistently one of the top 2 juniors in NZ, had an ATP ranking, and had offers from quite a few universities in USA. Instead of college, I ended up moving to Slovakia to pursue a professional career, aged 17, alone, following a Slovak coach who told me it would be my best opportunity to become pro. I lived in a weird little dorm room in a small town in the mountains called Banska Bystrica. My shower was either a frigid blast or a trickle of scalding hot. There was nobody to train with and besides my coach no one spoke English. I lasted for about 4 months, trying to convince myself that it was fine. After, for about three years, I trained in Bratislava. I was forced to learn Slovakian while living alone. I was mugged by three guys on the street one night and had to convince my parents that I’d fallen down the stairs so they wouldn’t bring me home. After decent improvement mixed with constant injury from overtraining, I’d had enough. I went back home to recover from a herniated disk. Eventually I met the team at Bath Tennis Academy and have been happily working with them and improving ever since. I wish I’d understood that college tennis was not a career ending decision. I wish I’d visited colleges in California, or somewhere where I could imagine enjoying life…” -Marcus Daniell Tennis

 

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