YOUNG J. KUBLER



Below is a story about Jason Kubler, who is a son of an ex-member of both Boomerang and the Gabba Squash Clubs John Kubler (shown in the following photograph from 1966 - second from left in back row). Other members of the Squash Club in the photo are Bob Clapham 5th from left in front row, Bob was the Principal of the Training School, and next to Bob is John Green who was a Classmate and later a workmate and a squash mate of John's.



Some of you may remember John playing at Boomerang and like a lot of us made the move to the Gabba. John also worked in the Telegraph Section of the Post Office with several other members of both clubs. Sadly, John passed away a few years ago but not before he introduced his son Jason to tennis at their local courts.

Jason is playing in the Junior Boys section and was a wildcard in the first round of the Open of the 2010 Australian Tennis Titles, which commenced on the 18th of January. I for one will be following his progress in this tournament and also his tennis career. However, you would think that no matter how good young Jason is he would find this event pretty tough, as some of the best under 19 Junior players in the world will be competing, and at this stage Jason is only 16.

I thought some of you might like to follow the young bloke's career, so I have put this story together.

Joe Williams

The following is an article about Jason and the Ausralian World Junior Tennis Competition (the 14/U equivalent of Davis Cup)

Kubler aims for Grand Slam glory



World junior tennis champion Jason Kubler reveals his future plans to Ian Burrows.



Queensland tennis player Jason Kubler is a marketer's dream. Bubbly, muscly and confident (oh, and he's pretty good on court too), Kubler is a rare player. One of Australia's best junior players and a member of Tennis Australia's National High Performance Academy (NHPA), Kubler has just returned from the most successful road trip of his short career. On a month-long tour of Europe, the teenager won two of the toughest international 14/U tennis tournaments, before helping guide Australia to its first ever win in the finals of the World Junior Tennis Competition. The 14 year old says the tour was a career-defining moment.


"The world junior teams would have to be the best thing I've ever done. It felt good being the first Australian team to ever come first. Being over there in the Czech Republic and just having 'Australia' on your back is a great feeling."


Kubler claimed the Windmill Cup in the Netherlands before heading to France where he continued his winning streak. Topping off his tour, the Australian won all four of his singles matches at the World Junior Tennis Competition (the 14/U equivalent of Davis Cup). He says it was a real thrill to achieve so much in such a short time.


"Only a handful of Australians have won tournaments over there. It feels good to have your name with them."


Rated among the best 14 year olds in the world, Kubler began playing tennis when his father introduced him to the game as a youngster. Kubler's potential was soon realised. His focus then shifted to working out how to get an edge over his opponents. A naturally well-built kid, Kubler decided to work on emphasising his physical presence. Dubbed by some a right-handed Rafael Nadal, the Queenslander has since been reaping the advantages of a power game.


"I find that my strokes are heavier than most people around the world. I guess its the more kick off the ground. You try and get every advantage you can get over other people. So it's good to be stronger than your opponent."


Kubler doesn't generally go to the gym but does plenty of strength and conditioning work at his base at Brisbane's National High Performance Academy. It includes regular sessions building his core strength as well as speed and agility training. But possibly the best advantage of being strong is an off-court matter.


"It's always good for a 14 year old to be a muscly kid, it gets the girls, they don't mind it," he jokes.


It's a typical line from the relaxed, yet hard-working and well-respected, teenager. Kubler prides himself on leading a balanced lifestyle. Part of that includes enjoying life away from tennis, especially after big wins like the world titles.


"We partied hard, we danced for a long time. It was a tiring night," he says.


But on court his focus rarely wavers. He says he has learnt from players like Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.


"He [Federer] seems like a nice guy and he's such a good tennis player. And I know that Andre Agassi is retired but with all his charity work and stuff, I respect that."


Kubler says he would one day like to be seen in a similar light.


"I'd like to be known as a nice guy who you can get along with. Someone who always has a smile on his face or something like that."


But for now his focus is on scaling those heights. Not one to be modest with goals, Kubler wants to win the Grand Slam - that's right, all four Grand Slams in a calendar year. And, of course, he wants to be world No.1. In the short term, however, the Queenslander is aiming to improve on his current ITF junior ranking of No.1967. He has only played a handful of ITF tournaments in his career, but plans to compete more in the second half of this year and would like to be ranked in the top 800. With his coaches, Graeme Brimblecombe, of the NHPA, and Gary Stickler, Kubler is working on developing a well-rounded game.


"I think my game is more suited to clay. I can feel that my strokes are getting heavier, more topspin and I'm becoming a better athlete. All the training really does help you."


When the year nine student has time away from tennis, he enjoys hanging out with mates and doesn't mind doing a little bit of homework (but just a little bit).


"I try to find a way to do a little bit so I don't get in too much trouble."

Kubler is a keen sportsperson who's willing to have a crack at most other sports. He says cyclist and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is one of his idols.

"I admire him coming back from cancer. Coming back to win the Tour de France however many times he did. It's always good to see someone like that come back and then win over and over again."


Kubler says that Armstrong, along with Agassi and Pete Sampras, would be one of three people he would take out to dinner if he could choose anyone in the world. If Kubler keeps heading down the same path, he may one day find himself held in the same high-esteem as the likes of Armstrong, Agassi and Sampras.



Here is another story from The Gympie Times



Details have emerged of a Gympie link with the recently concluded Brisbane International tennis tournament and rising junior tennis talent Jason Kubler. Kubler, 15, member of the Brisbane National Academy, was one of a number of Queensland tennis juniors gifted the opportunity of a lifetime to hit with some of the world's best tennis players. The juniors had the exciting chance to rub shoulders with their idols as both hitting partners and competitors in exhibition matches. Kubler, 15, traded blows with World No. 15 Fernando Verdasco, Spanish Davis Cup hero, during a hitting session along with taking to the Pat Rafter Arena in an exhibition doubles match with Sam Stosur against Rafter and Isabella Holland.

The exhibition match offered the receptive crowd assembled in the Pat Rafter Arena an exclusive peak into the future of Queensland tennis. Verdasco, meanwhile, was full of praise for his Queensland hitting partner, and wasted little time in offering his generous assessment of Kubler's game to the media.


"I thought he was like 17 or 18 ... when he told me he was 15, I was a little bit in shock because he hits really good, so I think he can be a good player," he said.


Kubler, who helped to steer Australia's junior Davis Cup side to victory in 2007, is linked to Gympie through his late father John Kubler. John, who passed away due to poor health, was born in Goomeri before moving to Gympie with his mother and father in 1956. John's parents owned the Chatsworth Road Store up until 1961, with John undertaking his education in Gympie. After then finding employment in PMG (now Telstra), John moved in 1967 to Charleville on a work transfer before eventually moving back to Brisbane with his parents.

Meanwhile, the future appears bright for Jason who has since expressed his surprise as Verdasco's compliments regarding his developing game.


"It's been good hitting with Verdasco the past few days," Jason said shortly after the exciting opportunity. I must be doing something right, he kept on wanting to hit with me. He hits a heavier ball than I'm used to, and it's good to hit with someone like that."


As the Australian summer of tennis continues to heats up, Jason is preparing to travel to Melbourne for a series of matches as part of the summer circuit. The main aspiration of Jason is to secure a wildcard into the Australian Open Boys' Championships main draw and to trace the path taken by former Australian winners Brydan Klein and Bernard Tomic. With Australian tennis routinely examined at this time of the year, and the outcome usually bleak, players such as Jason provide a glimmer of hope that change is only just around the corner.

Opportunities to hit and interact with players of the highest standard will only continue to assist in cultivating this long-awaited shift in the fortunes of Australian tennis on the world scene.


UPDATE (from Courier-Mail 30 September 2009)



He takes the train three hours a day return, six days a week, from one of Brisbane far northern suburbs to Tennyson.

That’s how much Brisbane 16 year-old Jason Kubler, the spearhead of Australia's Junior Davis Cup team wants to tread the stage at Grand Slam tournaments.

"I wouldn’t be waking up at 6am every morning, if I didn’t really want to be a tennis player," said Kubler, who has a first up assignment against Poland when the Junior Davis Cup final starts today in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. "The train is an hour and a half each way; I listen to the music on my iPod or play one of those games on it".

In a sport awash with money, but captive only to the most driven of self-starters, Kubler, from Mango Hill was rated by some Queensland tennis watchers as being better than Bernard Tomic was at the same age, before he needed operations to repair ligament damage on both knees last year. However, David Hodge, head coach at Brisbane national academy at Queensland Tennis Centre, says all recent research and indicators on Kubler’s physique and personality indicate he is "on track to be in the top 100".

In the past two months, he has won international under 18 events in Darwin and Fiji. Tomic played in Australia’s winning Junior Davis Cup team of 2007 and Kubler believes he has a "real good shot" at winning the under 16 title with Wagga’s Joey Swaysland and Adelaide’s Luke Saville. They hit in Palm Springs California for a week with Mark Woodforde and team captain Ray Ruffels before arriving in Mexico.

Tomic is eight months older than the Brisbane right-hander, who was rated the world’s best 14 year old in 2007, and Tomic’s US junior title this month was another marker laid down for younger Australians to follow. "Bernard has always been a step ahead of me, I’m trying to catch up as fast as I can with him "said Kubler, who is coached at the QTC BY Ben Mathias. "He won the Junior Aussie and that's one of my goals. My long-term goal is to win all the Grand Slams, but first I want to play all the Junior Grand Slams and do well from there". "I know it (expectation that he can become a top player) is there, but I don’t want it to a big distraction". Hodge said Kubler was "catching up fast" in his efforts to regain time lost by knee injuries suffered when moving for a wide forehand in practice in January 2008.

Kubler was chosen to play an exhibition doubles match also involving Pat Rafter and Sam Stosur last January to open the QTC. A lesson in dealing with nerves which he hopes will help him win an ATP Tour title there one day.

"He trains mostly on the clay, it (knee problem) is hereditary and we have to keep him away from unnecessary pounding (on hardcourts)". Hodge said.