AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2026

Jason Kubler

Marc Polmans

Press Conference

KUBLER-POLMANS/Kokkinakis-Kyrgios

6-4, 4-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: It was a tough battle out there, but you must be happy to get the win.

MARC POLMANS: Yeah, no, it was a very long match, to say the least. What was it, three hours or something. Yeah, it's been a long day.

But it was very fun on Kia Arena. I thought the atmosphere was probably the loudest I've ever experienced. So thank you to everyone coming out. It was very special.

To see Thanasi and Nick back playing, I think it's very special. So awesome to see those guys back.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go to the room.

Q. We just had Nick and Thanasi in here. Obviously that replayed point was a talking point. What did you make of it? Nick was pretty pissed off.

JASON KUBLER: Well, to be honest, I wasn't 100% sure if he did reach over. It was just one of those situations where we had the replay. I was like we may as well use it, you know. At the end it just worked out for us that he did actually reach over the net.

It's not like I knew that he did that or anything. But then, yeah, once we would see the review, it showed that he reached over. Yeah, our point.

Q. Can you speak about what it was like having the crowd booing at points. How did you respond to that and how did you get through that?

JASON KUBLER: I didn't even know they booed.

MARC POLMANS: I was just about to say. For some reason, I don't know, I wasn't playing too much attention. I feel like we were just trying to think about where we were trying to serve and what's the tactics for the next point. I feel like we did a decent job of blocking it out.

Sometimes after some long rallies, all the chants, that was really cool. Yeah, coming down to super tiebreak, that was a pretty cool way to finish a nice doubles match.

JASON KUBLER: The only time I heard really the crowd when they went Ssshh. But other than that, I thought they were very good. I actually honestly didn't hear any of the...

MARC POLMANS: No, I didn't hear the boos. But probably was locked. So I can't comment on that one.

Q. Are you daring to dream, boys? Jason, you've won the senior title. I remember covering you in juniors winning this. Anything can happen.

MARC POLMANS: Yeah, we'll keep trying to take it one match at a time. Pretty pumped to get through this one. But yeah, that would be pretty cool. Jason has done it before. He knows what it takes to win a big tournament like this.

So it's just very nice to be back on the doubles court. I haven't played much doubles last year. It's very nice to be back on the court and with Jason. Really enjoying the tennis tonight.

Q. Jason, you said it's not always in doubles you get to play in an atmosphere like that. You've come out on top. Can you put your hand up to say We'll be on Kia Arena for the rest of the tournament now?

JASON KUBLER: It's safe to say it wasn't us was the reason we were on Kia tonight. They have to be probably the most popular doubles team on tour right now, unless some of the top singles guys play together.

Yeah, to have the noise the crowd makes, it was the same as when Demon was playing at the United Cup. They're all coming to watch him.

I don't know. It would be great if we could go back on Kia. It would be awesome. Any court would be great with all the Aussie fans out there. The stadium courts, outside courts, whatever you play on, they come in in numbers and we get a lot of support.

Q. How are you juggling your time with Maddie as well and supporting? Even longer days now?

JASON KUBLER: If she keeps winning, it will be longer days, that's for sure.

Today was a little bit tricky because I got to watch the start of her match, but then we were warming up. I had to leave sort of end of the first, start of the second. Then I rushed back after that.

Wally said I was there for the whole three hours. I was only there for maybe an hour and a half.

Hopefully she can keep winning and doing well. We have mixed doubles tomorrow. She'll be a little bit tired. I'll be probably a little bit tired. See how that goes.

Does she play Osaka now?

Q. Yes.

JASON KUBLER: So hopefully a big court. That would be nice.

Q. Your better half, the way she played today, what are your comments on that match?

JASON KUBLER: Well, the girl she played is tricky, that's for sure. It was a bit swirly out there. I said to her before the match, It's going to be tough. Expect for it to be tough.

For her to be in a situation of a set and I think 6-5 serving for it to get broken, then be able to fight back in the third, like, I think that's two matches in a row now where she's had the match. Unfortunately she wasn't able to win it, then able to bounce back in the third.

Just mentally I think to be able to do that, it is pretty cool. Then you can just see how much it means to her when the match finishes. Everyone is normally celebrating so loud. She just falls to the ground.

You can see how much it means to her. She's playing so well. Hopefully her next match she can do the same thing.

Q. Can you talk about how you managed them struggling physically a little bit? It was a long doubles match. How are you both feeling physically.

MARC POLMANS: It was kind of weird, I didn't know when the moment actually happened when Thanasi started serving slow. All of a sudden he just started serving slower at 4-1 in the third. I mean, he was serving huge throughout the whole match. I don't know. I really hope he can get his shoulder back 100% because, Jason, he was serving amazing.

My body is feeling okay. I haven't been playing as much tennis as some of the other players. I'm feeling pretty good still. Jason has some ice around his knee. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.