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Jason Kubler Cheering Thread

169K views 2K replies 73 participants last post by  Koobs 
#1 ·
Jason Kubler, 15, from Brisbane is the latest in a long line of Queenslanders to emerge. Following on from the likes of Patrick Rafter, Marc Kimmich, Robert Smeets and Bernard Tomic, Kubler has been quietly going about his business on the ITF Junior Circuit, and more recently, the ITF Men's Circuit. This comes after being the standout player of the 2007 European Young Stars Tour, in which he won a couple of the most prestigous tournaments in the 14&U age group, and led Australia to victory at the 2007 World Junior Tennis Competition. It was the first time Australia has ever claimed the title, our two previous best performances were 3rd in 1995 (with Lleyton Hewitt in the team) and 3rd in 2005.

In his past four tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit, Jason has made two quarter finals. On the men's circuit, Jason has been winning one or two matches, in qualifying, for the recent QLD 15k's, and just this week he qualified for the main draw of the 15k in Gympie.

Let me tell you that I have seen him play and he is so so good for his age. Powerful, accurate groundstrokes, a strong serve and good movement. He, along with Bernard and Brydan Klein, is the future of Australian men's tennis
 
#1,441 ·
A bit of scuttlebutt is now emerging that these qualifying matches were actually played on the Ilkley club's indoor hardcourts and not on the outdoor grass courts - which, if true, makes Jason's decision to play on even more commendable and also explains why he might have had to retire when he did.

So if the retirement was precuationary in nature, it wouldn't rule Wimbledon Q out completely for him...though again, he would only have practice on grass and no actual matchplay. Perhaps he really should have opted for Surbiton rather than the vagaries of Yorkshire weather gods!
 
#1,443 ·
Hopefully the fact that Jason is attempting this means that he's feeling well enough after the awful luck of being forced onto indoor hard at Ilkley - he certainly won't qualify, but even one win would be an important confidence booster that maybe he can detour onto grass for a few weeks every year and not remain totally anchored to the clay.
 
#1,448 ·
It's the psychological factor that I'm most pleased about for Jason - the more he can demonstrate to himself that even if hardcourts are out for now, it doesn't mean it has to be 100% clay, the better for his career.

He certainly could beat Nedovyesov, so it should be a good match. Just imagine if after all that talk about Roland Garros or bust, Kubler actually makes it at Wimby instead...
 
#1,450 ·
I thought he would be mentally bad on grass, but after being sent to play on hard at Ilkley I imagine he lost even more confidence. Machado is not a grass player, but to beat him in straights on a surface he hasn't played for years is an achievement Jason should be proud of, and if he can get out of qualifying territory for top challengers, he might be able to add grass to his calendar in 2016.

That would be funny, if Koobs got into Wimbledon :lol:
 
#1,453 ·
A rather sweet write up about Jason's win on the TA website - http://www.tennis.com.au/news/2015/06/24/kubler-scores-emotional-victory.

Clearly he's been itching to get off the clay; perhaps not too surprisingly given his lean run of form this year. The following quote made me scratch my head, though:

“US Open (is in the plan) for sure, but then I’m tossing up (between preparation options) because there’s a lot of claycourt Challenger and ATP events before the US Open,” he said.

“So I have a choice really with the US Open Series (events on hard court) or the ATPs on clay so depending how I go here, you never know."
Not only am I shocked to hear that he is even contemplating moving onto hard this quickly (was lasting 2.5 sets in Ilkley that much of a boost?) - but has someone told Jason that his ranking is going to decline past the point he can get into many of these events very soon? Maybe it has been all in his head and the form will turn the corner, but still...
 
#1,457 ·
A rather sweet write up about Jason's win on the TA website - http://www.tennis.com.au/news/2015/06/24/kubler-scores-emotional-victory.

Clearly he's been itching to get off the clay; perhaps not too surprisingly given his lean run of form this year. The following quote made me scratch my head, though:

Not only am I shocked to hear that he is even contemplating moving onto hard this quickly (was lasting 2.5 sets in Ilkley that much of a boost?) - but has someone told Jason that his ranking is going to decline past the point he can get into many of these events very soon? Maybe it has been all in his head and the form will turn the corner, but still...
Well in fairness it was prefaced by a 'if he progresses' comment.

And there are a couple of hard 250s (Atlanta and Winston-Salem) he could probably play qualies for even if his ranking slumps dramatically, plus Canadian Masters qualies had a horrifically low cutoff last year (and he might get lucky on a couple of the others).

But yes, the sudden enthusiasm for playing on hard seems a bit odd given he backed off from trying at the AO...
 
#1,460 ·
Nice to see that Jason has parlayed the confidence from Wimbledon qualies back onto clay at the Marburg Challenger - OK, maybe it was just Panfil to start with, but with the draw wide open he could get a real boost here.

He does need a nice deep run, because he's still languishing in the race.
 
#1,468 ·
Yes, and what is worse is that Jason led 5-2 in the first set and had quite a few set points that he failed to convert! :help:

He just cannot seem to advance deep into any tournaments at the moment, with his highest points tally this year being just 18 from Sarasota back in April. I guess the fact he is still managing to accumulate small amounts of points helps, and his form in general hasn't been terrible - but if he can't find a surge quickly, he is going to find himself back around the 240 mark in another couple of months...
 
#1,471 ·
Interesting if true.

I did read an interview a while back (sorry can't remember where) in which he made a comment along the lines of 'if I can get into top 100 by playing only on clay, great, that will extend my professional playing career; but if it doesn't work, I'll play on hard if that is what it takes...'

Maybe feeling time or more importantly money is running out?
 
#1,472 ·
Not that odd if you recall the podcast interview Koobs did immediately after his Wimbledon QR1 win, where he very definitely indicated that he planned to be there in New York for US Open qualies, which surprised a few of us at the time. Clearly he seems intent on giving it a shot.

I did read an interview a while back (sorry can't remember where) in which he made a comment along the lines of 'if I can get into top 100 by playing only on clay, great, that will extend my professional playing career; but if it doesn't work, I'll play on hard if that is what it takes...'

Maybe feeling time or more importantly money is running out?
Well, I seem to recall that Jason and his girlfriend are pretty much a 2-person operation on the road with no or nominal TA funding. The clay only strategy might have worked to get him into the Top 100, but his form this year appears to point to the gamble having failed, with his ranking falling steadily now (to the point where if he doesn't play USO qualies, he may find it very hard to get back in 2016).

Playing well at Roehampton was a bit of a mental turning point, but also of note was his effort in having to move onto the indoor hard at the Ilkley Challenger qualies the week prior. He still had to retire, but lasted much much longer than his previous efforts on the surface. That might have crystallised the decision to go for it - yes, maybe for the money too.
 
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