Recruiting Profile
Rubin Conquers Clay and Gets Ready for Grass
by Marcia Frost, 27 June 2012
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Noah Rubin has certainly earned his place at the top of the rankings. The 16 year old from Long Island, N.Y., has had no problem keeping ahead of his peers in USTA competition with titles at a National Open, the Labor Day Championships, International Spring Championships, and final four finishes at many other top events. Now he's ready to take the tennis world by storm internationally.
Noah Rubin at the 2012 French Junior Open
© Myron Krueger
Rubin started off the year by winning his first Grade 1 ITF title at the
Copa del Café in Costa Rica just before his 16th birthday. He entered the event unseeded and finished with the trophy. Since that time he has risen to the No. 14 in the world, the second-highest ranked American boy behind only
Mitchell Krueger. That ranking has earned him the chance to play main draw Grand Slam junior events.
Paris was the first major for Rubin and he certainly made his mark on the red clay even though he freely admits, "I didn't expect anything going into it. I really enjoyed it (the clay). We don't play it too often, but we did go down a couple of weeks before to practice and I got the hang of it and I enjoyed it."
He made it - again unseeded - to the quarterfinals, taking out No. 15 Stefano Napolitano and No. 3 Liam Brody along the way. He relished every moment of "the whole experience of being there. This was basically my dream - or part of my dream - so that fact that I accomplished it was great."
Rubin returned from Paris with a lot more than practice on his mind. He took some time to relax with his sister Jessie, who has played on the Binghamton University team and has practiced with her brother through the years, at a Dave Matthews concert. He also had to go back to Bellmore-Merrick's Kennedy High School (he is now doing online school) to take the New York State Global History Regents.
The next stop for Noah Rubin is Wimbledon. "Before the French Open, I was even more excited for Wimbledon," he says. "Just the whole grass thing - and wearing all white. That should be should be really fun. I just think it's cool that it's so traditional."
