Jubb's unlikely journey from England to national champ
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS TENNIS
Before Saturday, Paul Jubb was never much for Twitter. He didn’t log on much and rarely tweeted—just 44 before the start of May—but that all changed in an instant Saturday afternoon.
That’s when, at about 5:40 p.m., a ball skidded away from Nino Borges, cementing Jubb as the men’s singles national champion, the first Gamecock to be a tennis national champion in school history.
Since then, he’s gained a couple hundred followers on social media with personalities and coaches taking notice of his name, the newly-cemented South Carolina celebrity.
“It’s a great thing to have when you know you’ve made history and you’re in the history books,” Jubb said. “It’s something I can cherish the rest of my life.”
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In the roughly 24 hours since Jubb laced a ball past Mississippi State’s Borges to clinch the tiebreaker set 7-2, he’s seen shout outs on Twitter from Ray Tanner, Dawn Staley and Frank Martin along with a few others.
His thank you tweet after winning his title Saturday is almost at 50 retweets, has 45 replies and almost 1,000 likes.
“My Twitter has been blowing up more than ever,” he said, smiling. “I’ve never been that active on Twitter but Judy Murray, Dawn Staley and Frank Martin have all tweeted to me. Getting support from them has been really cool.”
But this—the notoriety, the fame and the prowess in the tennis world—was something he really wasn’t thinking about four years ago.
Then, in 2015, Jubb was playing tennis at an academy in Hull, England, a small, northern coastal city about 25 miles from the east coast of the United Kingdom and hadn’t even been to campus.
That’s where Gamecock head coach Josh Goffi found him and sold him on his program and South Carolina.
Jubb ultimately decided to enroll a year earlier, coming in for the 2016-17 season where most people his age would still be seniors in high school. When he enrolled, though, he made Goffi a promise.
“I told him if he gives me the same opportunity that all these other players are getting in my club, I told him I’d be the best and id’ rise to the top,” he said. Somehow it happened.”
Jubb never took a visit to campus before starting school in Columbia, but knew from the moment he did start this was the place for him.
“The culture here has been unbelievable. I didn’t take a visit here but as soon as I got here, everyone just welcomed me with open arms,” he said. “I think that’s such a great thing and it’s allowed me to be who I am and express myself on the court. There’s not one bad thing I can say about this place.”
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But, even as he collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the moment, it still didn’t feel real for him. Even five years ago as a kid in Hull, he never would have pictured that moment and carrying a national title trophy back to Columbia.
If someone had told him coming to campus what would happen three years from then, he probably would have laughed it off.
“They’re crazy,” he said.
Jubb had two really good seasons his first two years on campus but dominated as a junior, going 32-4 with just one loss in the SEC. He’d finish 17-4 against nationally ranked opponents and breeze through the NCAA men’s singles tournament dropping just one set during his title-clinching run.
“There was always something in the back of my mind, that bit of belief, that I could beat anyone in the tournament,” he said. “I was taking it round by round, not thing too far ahead. I wasn’t trying to think too far ahead, and I think that’s what helped me focus in each match and do what needed to be done.”
It was a familiar foe in Borges, who had beaten Jubb a couple of times earlier in the year in hard-fought matches.
After taking the first set Saturday, he’d be taken to a tiebreaker with Borges, where he fought off a few nerves and dominated en route to the 7-2 win.
“It was just so much relief,” Jubb said. “From being able to bottle up all the emotion and release that at the end, it was perfect.”
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Now, Jubb heads back home to England where he’ll compete throughout the summer before coming back to Carolina for his final year on campus. Then, after that he’ll embark on a professional journey that he hopes ends with a few grand slam victories.
Enrolling a year earlier than normal gives Jubb some wiggle room where he can come back for his senior season, trying to build on an already history career for the garnet and black.
“One of the reasons I came here at such a young age was I have the time to develop fully and do my full four years without feeling the need to rush on the tour, which some guys feel that,” he said. “I can come back, work on things and give myself a chance to have success on the tour.”