{"id":10795,"date":"2017-03-21T08:30:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T21:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/?p=10795"},"modified":"2017-03-21T15:58:29","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T04:58:29","slug":"kubler-returns-to-canberra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/news\/2017\/03\/21\/kubler-returns-to-canberra","title":{"rendered":"Kubler returns to Canberra"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland wildcard Jason Kubler<\/strong> has traveled a long and winding road to finally arrive in Canberra for the ACT Clay Court International events, his first professional outings since early 2016.<\/p>\n

Forced to sit on the sidelines for extended periods throughout his promising career due to troublesome knees, the former world No.136 (November 2014) has now undergone a total of six surgeries, five on his left knee and one on his right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time was an accident and now I think just because that happened I have a higher chance of it happening again,\u201d Kubler said. \u201cA couple of times I think I\u2019ve just been unlucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI rehabbed after the surgery in September 2015, played four tournaments, and then had to get another one the next May,\u201d he continued. \u201cHaving them back-to-back like that was tough, and it was very up-and-down mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

After eight months of further rehabilitation, Kubler began to feel a familiar pain again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough to deal with that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just pushing things out longer and longer and you start to get a bit upset because you want to get back on court and you aren\u2019t able to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I knew I was going to play in Canberra, it was probably the toughest. I was still wondering if I should even play. There were times when I had to think if I can\u2019t do this, then what other ways can I go? I\u2019m just happy that I\u2019m playing again and I\u2019m hoping that my knees get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite a loss last week in his first outing, Kubler has arrived in Canberra with a keen sense of anticipation about what lies ahead now he is playing competitively again. \u201cFinally I am able to play some matches,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can prepare as much as you want, but it\u2019s easy to start overthinking things, so it was actually really good just to get that first one out of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been so good to see guys that I haven\u2019t seen for so long. I\u2019m hitting with them every day now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, in the second Canberra ITF Futures event, Kubler finds himself up against American Nathan Pasha<\/strong>, in a side of the draw that would see him play last week\u2019s champion, second seed Marc Polmans<\/strong>, in a quarterfinal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t played before but I was only training with him a few days ago,\u201d Kubler said of his unseeded American opponent. \u201cIt should be a good match.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as the longer term, Kubler\u2019s experiences have led him to become perhaps wiser than his years. At 23 \u2013 \u201cWell, it feels like everything else is 23, but my knees are more like 40\u201d \u2013 the Queenslander says that it\u2019s now more about just enjoying the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting to the stage now where if I was to need another surgery, I\u2019d say that\u2019s probably a bit too much and I\u2019d stop,\u201d he said. \u201cSo right now, it\u2019s just about enjoying what I\u2019m doing. Who knows how much longer I will be playing? It could be six months, a year, or I could play my whole career out, but right now I just want to link up with other Aussie guys on tour and enjoy what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Kubler faces Pasha on Tuesday, other Aussies such as third seed Omar Jasika<\/strong> will also join the action. He takes on last week\u2019s surprise quarterfinalist Steven de Waard,<\/strong> while semifinalist Maverick Banes<\/strong>, the No.8 seed, plays Jake Delaney<\/strong>. Wildcard Lucas Vuradin<\/strong>, Thomas Fancutt<\/strong> and Gavin Van Peperzeel<\/strong> will also open their accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland wildcard Jason Kubler has traveled a long and winding road to finally arrive in Canberra for the ACT Clay Court International events, his first professional outings since early 2016. Forced to sit on the sidelines for extended periods throughout his promising career due to troublesome knees, the former world No.136 (November 2014) has now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5971,"featured_media":10802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/act\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}