An upbeat Jason Kubler insists his Wimbledon journey's been hugely positive despite going down in four sets to Argentina's Guido Pella in the opening round on Monday.
Kubler, whose career has been plagued by injuries, battled through three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw of the All England for the first time before losing 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-3) in a three-and-a-quarter hour contest.
The 25-year-old Queenslander, the 2009 top-seed for the Wimbledon junior event, has undergone six knee operations in a stop-start career and it was an issue with his left knee which he felt cost him momentum after he'd won the third set.
Kubler had shown great guts and determination to fight his way back into the match, but a lengthy delay for a trainer to arrive on Court 11 stifled his progress.
"I was annoyed with myself that I called out the physio after the third," Kubler said.
"My knee was a bit stiff and I just wanted to get some Deep Heat on it to keep me going.
"But it took him ages to get out there and I lost momentum and wasn't as warm as I should have been.
"But I am proud of myself, he was serving for the match at 5-4 and I broke him which is hard to do on grass. But it was just unlucky in the tiebreak.
"It's my first Wimbledon and it's been unreal so I am pretty happy. I don't want this one loss to override everything that has happened over the last week."
Kubler will head to Canada on Wednesday to play a tournament in Winnipeg and begin his preparations for trying to qualify for the US Open,
He said the experience of Wimbledon has given him the belief that he can kick-start a career that has never really got going after a successful junior career.
"Playing well against a guy like Pella, who has been ranked top 40 in his career gives me belief going forward." he said.
"I will play a few Challenger events and with a bit more confidence I will try and play some ATP events and see where we go from there."
