Jason Kubler battles his way back to Wimbledon’s green pastures

Jason Kubler has battled injury and adversity to reach the main draw at Wimbledon.

Jason Kubler, once the world’s top-ranked junior, has battled his way through qualifying to earn a spot at Wimbledon. Picture: AFP

When Jason Kubler walked out of the All England Club a beaten semi-finalist in the boys singles in 2011, he could scarcely have envisioned it would take him so long to return.

But after a memorable week at Roehampton, Kubler will walk back through the gates on Monday with great delight having qualified for Wimbledon alongside compatriots John Patrick-Smith and Alex Bolt.

There was less luck for high-profile compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis and Bernard Tomic was only granted entry last night as lucky loser.

Tomic had been performing well but appeared unwell and injured during his straight-sets defeat to Ruben Bemelmans, while Kokkinakis fell to his close friend Bolt in a tight four-set match in qualifying.

The quartet join Nick Kyrgios, Matt Ebden, John Millman, Alex De Minaur, Jordan Thompson and James Duckworth in Wimbledon’s main draw. Ash Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Sam ­Stosur and Ajla Tomljanovic are in action in the women’s singles.

Kubler, now 25, was once the world’s top-ranked junior. In 2009, he managed a feat only previously achieved by Rafael Nadal with an undefeated run through a junior Davis Cup campaign. But a series of knee complaints that began with torn cartilage a decade ago seemed certain to render him a player unable to live up to his potential.

As he told The Weekend Australian earlier this year, just 12 months ago he was coaching kids in Brisbane to earn some pocket money. But after outlasting Canadian Peter Polansky 7-6 (5) 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-4 in the third round of qualifying, Kubler will earn $70,000 for a first-round appearance, with the prospect of far more if he can progress.

“I’ve come from not really knowing if I was going to continue playing tennis, to qualifying for Wimbledon, so it is a big jump and I am pretty happy,” Kubler said.

The difficulties of the past decade made him question whether tennis was for him as he battled chronic knee soreness, which forced him to pursue a career on the more forgiving clay surface.

Kubler was playing in far-flung locations for a fistful of dollars as his contemporaries competed on the bigger stage. It was a lonely experience. And a painful one. He has undergone five operations on his left knee and one on his right.

“When I did play tournaments overseas, at dinner you are eating by yourself, and finding practices, you would have to ask six or seven people to have a single hit,” he said.

But keen to earn a few more dollars to supplement his coaching income, the Queenslander entered a couple of Futures level tournaments in Brisbane last year on hard courts, thinking he had little left to lose. A remarkable thing happened. There was no pain or swelling after playing.