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Noah Rubin’s New Project Shows Pro Tennis Players in a Whole New Light

March 19th, 2019 by Do It Tennis

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“When I was fifteen, I had an eating disorder. There were people in my life and others who would see me on tv, that would tell me I was fat, or needed to lose a few pounds. Eventually, that truly got into my head. I was living off three, 100 calorie bars a day. I struggled with this problem for almost two years, which led to some issues with depression. I completely shut my friends and mom out of my life. I felt like I put this mask on to get through each day, hoping no one would ask how or what I was doing. I became super paranoid because I wanted to keep it all a secret and didn’t want anyone to worry. It took until one day when I realized what I was doing, I was hurting my tennis. I couldn’t get through a week of practice because I had nothing in my body. I let other people change how I felt about myself and that hurt the dream I’ve been working towards since I was four years old. I decided that I needed to get control of my eating. It took some time to get myself to open up to people again. It’s something I still struggle with when I get stressed or upset, but I have a much healthier relationship with food now.”

A post shared by Behind The Racquet (@behindtheracquet) on Feb 18, 2019 at 2:17pm PST

American tennis player, Noah Rubin has started a project that aims to humanize tennis players and show their back stories that give fans a little more insight into the people we root for on the tennis court. Katerina Stewart, Madison Keys, Sachia Vickery, Jason Jung, and Chris Eubanks are among the players featured on Behind the Racquet’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages. This story was featured in the March 11, 2019 Issue of Sports Illustrated, where Rubin goes into detail about how this project came to be. Rubin said his inspiration actually came from another Instagram account, Humans of New York, which highlights stories of New Yorkers and is now currently focusing on those in the special olympics. In his interview with Sports Illustrated, Rubin said, “Boom, it just hit me...I love this page—how am I not doing something like this?” And so he did. Rubin heads the project with help from his best friend, Max Eichler and his girlfriend, Jamie Weissler. Eichler also explained his drive for the project saying, “They’re not superhuman just because they’re professional athletes...They still have struggles, and that’s what people want to hear about.” No topic is off the table when the players are giving their story. From eating disorders, family struggles, confidence issues and more, Behind the Racquet not only humanizes it’s subjects, making them more relatable to their fans but highlights the importance of mental health conversations. It is giving tennis players an outlet and sparking even more interest in the sport. Behind the Racquet’s Instagram account now has almost 7,000 followers; each photo with a tennis pro posing from behind his or her tennis racquet and sharing their story, their struggle and their success. This is something we can all relate to, tennis player or not. If you enjoyed this article, here are some others you may enjoy… Adidas Tennis Shoes and Parley | Turning Threats into Threads Naomi Osaka at the Top of Her Game with Adidas and Yonex The Lasting Benefits of Youth Tennis Join Do It Tennis in the conversation on Facebookor Twitter and Instagram!