UNITED CUP

December 30, 2022

Jason Kubler

Team Australia

Press Conference

J. KUBLER/D. Evans

6-3, 7-6

Team Great Britain - 3

Team Australia - 1

THE MODERATOR: Well done. Very impressive team debut in your own country. How much did you enjoy the atmosphere out there tonight?

JASON KUBLER: Yeah, you know, it was crazy. You know, the first set I was trying to get them involved because I thought it would definitely help me. Just with the way the second set started I couldn't really find too many opportunities for them to get involved.

On the comeback, they really helped me. It was a big reason I was able to come back. When you're playing tournaments by yourself and you don't have the crowd, it's very tough in those moments to come back. Then tonight all credit to them. They really helped me get over the line.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations on the win. I know you said the crowd were amazing, which they were. In this event you've got your team in the corner, which you can sort of feed off of. What's it like having Lleyton there and the rest of the guys?

JASON KUBLER: Luckily I was able to play Davis Cup this year, so it gave me a chance to play in front of Lleyton. It's a little bit different playing in front of Lleyton. He's so passionate that every point you just want to do everything you can to try and win it. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable playing in front of him.

With Demon, I've been on the side so many times now where I've seen performances he's done I can't even believe. I've seen the amount of effort he puts in. You know, if anything, I just want to be able to help him as much as I can to hopefully have great success in team competitions.

Q. Where does that rank in terms of your career, playing at home for Australia I think for the first time, crowd behind you, comeback win?

JASON KUBLER: Yeah, it definitely ranks pretty highly. The last, honestly, the last six, nine months has just been sort of a whirlwind for me. I've done a lot of things that I didn't know if I was going to be able to do. If anything, tonight just adds to that list where I'm surprising myself.

A year ago I didn't think I'd be in this situation, and then to win a match, especially just like that and have the crowd behind you, it's phenomenal. Yeah, definitely ranks up there with one of my best wins.

Q. When you have had the injuries you have had in your career, does it make you savor these moments all the more, do you think?

JASON KUBLER: Savor, yeah. I definitely feel like, you know, now that I'm getting a little bit older I'm definitely chasing these moments. These are, yeah, these moments are the reasons that I play now, you know. I want to try and play in all the big courts. It's like I almost have an imagery checklist, and each time I get to play in these big matches it's like a little tick to that.

That's probably the main thing I'm thinking right now, trying to get on big courts, try to have moments like this, and just keep going.

Q. How do you stay so focused in a set like that second, Love-5, you end up winning, is it seven of eight games, Love-2 in the breaker, similar situation in points? As those games and points are falling your way, what are you thinking? Is it hard to really think out there with the noise of the crowd?

JASON KUBLER: Yeah, honestly, at 5-0, we were saying to give him some different looks. You know, obviously try and do some things that hopefully he starts to think about in the third set. That's sort of where my mindset was.

Then, if anything, that sort of helped me play a bit more proactive instead of maybe a bit reactional. I felt like I started trying to create a few things by coming to the net, started going for a few more shots.

Then I think I held serve at 5-Love, and then I think maybe Dan gave me a few errors to break at 5-2. That was sort of the mindset, just give him different looks and by 5-4, we were like, Okay, maybe we can do this.

Yeah, honestly, it was just about giving him different looks and hopefully making him see different things and think a little bit more.

Q. I know the conditions are completely different and opposite, but did Wimbledon come into your mind at all with this match when you played him there?

JASON KUBLER: Yeah, no, no, it did for sure. I think it would be normal, just because I had a great match, one of my best matches there against him.

But it was actually funny, at the start of the match I felt him pressing the net a lot more, which is what I did at Wimbledon to him. I thought that was a little bit funny. Almost the way Dan plays it's a little bit of cat and mouse, almost. I thought that was a funny way to start. I tried to get him back a few times. You know, from my side, it turned out to be a great match.