Noah Rubin wasn’t sure what he would do after his decision to take an indefinite break from professional tennis. All he knew was that the physical and mental strain had taken its toll and he had to resign.
But it didn’t take long for him to figure out his next chapter.
On Monday, just weeks after announcing his departure from tennis, Rubin, 26, announced that he had taken to Instagram with a video mocking his 5ft 9 stature Pickleball concentrated.
“The tennis court is just way too big and there’s way too much to do,” Rubin said in the video. “I recently came across Pickleball Place and it clicked, this is where I belong, this is my home now. And in this sport, size doesn’t matter.”
It’s an unexpected career change for the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion and 2015 NCAA singles runner-up – and perhaps no one is more surprised than Rubin himself.
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“I’m not a tennis traditionalist, but there’s a love for the sport, and when you see something like Pickleball coming in and taking over so quickly, the knee-jerk reaction is like, ‘Get out of here,'” Rubin said told ESPN, “It’s not a chance [sport] will be everything, no chance it’s worth a look. But then I put my ego aside and I was like, ‘Wow, now I get it. That all makes sense.'”
Rubin, who turned professional in 2015 as a 19-year-old, found instant success in tennis, winning his first Challenger title in November of that year. But he was frequently sidelined by injuries and never quite reached the level he envisioned for himself on the tour. He achieved a career high of 125 in 2018 and has been open throughout his time on tour about the challenges of being a professional tennis player.
Unhappy with his current level on the court and possibly requiring wrist surgery if he wanted to continue playing, Rubin said he knew he needed to take a break from tennis. Most recently, he played at the Citi Open in July and lost in qualifying.
Originally, Rubin believed that after retiring from the sport, he would primarily focus on his Instagram account and podcast, Behind the Racquet. And while that remains a big part of his plan, a chance trip to the pickleball courts in August with Ryan Harwood, general manager of Major League Pickleball team The 5s, helped him discover a new athletic dream and path. Rubin had played a few times but never really taken it seriously.
“I knew the sport was growing and there was potential there, but I wasn’t really sure until we started batting that day,” Rubin said. “And then [Harwood] was like, ‘You have to be one of the first to get through it. There are many opportunities, there are many eyes on the sport, it’s going to explode in some way, shape or form, and you just have to be a part of it.
Rubin won the junior title at Wimbledon in 2014. AFP PHOTO / ANDREW COWIE
“After that, I looked a little deeper — and I’m doing everything at a billion miles an hour — so within three days I was already in Austin, Texas, and Dreamlands, which is one of those pickleball havens over there, ready to go.”
Not entirely sure when he will make his competitive debut, Rubin admits he has yet to figure out many of the specific details of his pickleball career, but he’s looking forward to being a part of the growing sport early on. There are currently three professional leagues — the Major League Pickleball (MLP), the Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP), and the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) — and since the organizations are all so new, players aren’t necessarily committed to one and many participate in different events in different leagues. The sport’s popularity has never been greater — both professionally and recreationally — and last month LeBron James was announced as the owner of an MLP expansion team alongside Maverick Carter, Draymond Green and Kevin Love. Drew Brees and James Blake are also investors in the league.
Rubin will be attending the last MLP tournament of the year in Columbus, Ohio this weekend as a spectator and then trying to gauge his next moves. He said he wants to take his time deciding on his first event, but in the meantime he hopes to use the social media and marketing skills he’s learned from running Behind the Racquet to to further expand the reach of Pickleball.
There are many unknowns for Rubin in this next endeavor – including his goals for the new sport – but he’s looking forward to the challenge and figuring it all out.
“It’s funny, in tennis it’s always this simple answer, I want to be world No. 1, but it’s so new to me with Pickle,” Rubin said. “Obviously I’m competitive and no matter if I’m on the pitch I’m going to want to kick ass. I mean, it’s easy like that. But is it in my head that I want to be the best? in the world? Sure, I mean it’s definitely a part of it and it will always be there.
“I don’t know the exact path within the professional game aspect. I know I have a lot of ideas on how to use people and other aspects in marketing and everything else, but when I’m playing I just want to see where my skills lie.”
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