Noah Rubin’s “Behind The Racquet” • With • Juan Sebastian Cabal | 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.

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“I was playing a future in Mexico in 2005. It was the beginning of the third set as I was running to a ball I felt something very painful in my knee. My opponent hit a normal volley cross court and while I was moving to the ball my foot just got stuck and felt my leg go in the wrong direction. I couldn’t move at all and was forced to pull out. I immediately went back to Colombia to get an MRI and any other test I would need. It was hard to hear that this injury would need surgery. It was only a week and half later when I was getting it done. It took a really long time to recover, about six months without any activity. It was about nine months until I started jogging again. I fought to play some singles matches after this but completely stopped playing singles in 2013. The fact I was able to even come back to competition was amazing. I had a huge group of doctors and physios who were working with me everyday. They would continually encourage me to prove to myself that I could return at a high level. They would also explain that they can do all they can but how well I recover will depend on my effort. They became my team, almost like family. With all the hours of work, motivation and encouragement, these were the people who will text me first after a big win, the guys that really know me and my tennis game. I owe a lot of my current success to everything they did for me. I never would have expected a change from singles to doubles, would change my life. From playing in tournaments and noticing my knee wasn’t recovering the way I wanted after long, hard singles matches, I knew I had to make a change. I had to figure out how I would get my body back to 100%. It wasn’t too tough of a decision because if I wanted to continue playing tennis I had to give up singles. It allowed me to put the emphasis on doubles and fight to make the Olympics in 2012. It might not have been easy for the people around me, such as sponsors, but they continued to support me and we are all celebrating today. With all the wins, there is nothing quite like doing it for your country. The love that Robert and I receive from the people of Colombia is unreal. It is truly hard to put into words what it meant to us. For them it felt like a soccer match, almost the World Cup. No one left the house, they were glued to the TV and celebrated our victory. When I’m off court, my life has little to do with tennis. I try to go back to Cali, Colombia as much as possible. This is where my family lives, my wife’s family and where I want to be on any off time. Colombia has everything, consistent weather year round, great food and just a great quality of life.”

–Juan Sebastian Cabal (@jscabal)

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