Makers & Dreamers | Noah Rubin

Behind the Racket was just an idea I had in my bed a few months ago. I didn't know where it was going. To see how far it's come, it's absolutely incredible. My name is Noah Rubin, born in Long Island, New York, and I am a professional tennis player and the creator of Behind the Racket. Being in the professional tennis world and also the world itself, I'm seeing that there's a lot of issues that are not being spoken about. So seeing all of that, I had to create Behind the Racket to give players a platform to share their stories and have fans interact with them to know a little bit deeper about who they are as a person. 2019 has been an absolute roller coaster, but the growth of Behind the Racket, it's been unbelievable. People coming up to me and saying, I'm giving this to my son or daughter, whoever, and this is actually helping in their own lives. I could have never dreamed of something like this. Today it's so easy to access so many different people from around the world. But with the connections that we have on the phone, we also lose this really personal relationship, which I want to bring back. It's a combination of getting that digital age and using it to its full potential, but also getting this face-to-face contact again using social media and other platforms. People inspire me. Everyday people. I just go out, I try to meet as many people as possible, listen to them, what they have to say, because you don't know what they've gone through. and everybody can inspire you in one way or another. I'm working on a few events, a few gallery openings, really trying to bring mental health to the public eye. There's no saying what 2020 holds.