The challenge of the Challenger Tour
That quickly earned himself a warning from the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After Switzerland's Leandro Riedi took the second set 7-5 to force a third, Jubb — who dominated the first 6-2 — spiked his racquet in frustration.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., said the Challenger Tour is a grind as tennis is a truly individual sport, where players at this level pay their way around the tour and may not be able to afford a coach.
'I was seeing red for a good amount of time there,' admitted Jubb, who was competing in Round of 32 action at the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger on Wednesday at the Tennis Manitoba Hub at West St. Paul.
Welcome to the Challenger Tour — which mainly consists of players ranked between 100 and 300 in the world and is a tier below the top level in the sport: the ATP Tour.
It's a level that can be far from glamorous, as most players are a one-man rock band who travel across the globe trying to scrounge up enough points to climb the rankings. The cost of having a coach hit the road with you can cost a player over a grand per week, and that's not including their accommodation and flight. So, for many, they're flying solo.
When times get tough, it's up to them, and only them, to figure it out.
On this day, Jubb, a 25-year-old from the United Kingdom, managed to do so as he rallied to win the third set 6-4 to advance to the next round. It's a big win, as Riedi played in the first round at Wimbledon last month.
'It's an individual sport, and pretty much every week you're most likely losing. You have to deal with being in your own head, and it's all on you if you lost. You got to deal with those thoughts week by week and it's a very, very lonely job at times,' said Jubb, who won an NCAA national championship in men's singles back in 2019 during his time at the University of South Carolina.
'It would be easy to kind of check out and maybe try and earn some money coaching, but that's not what I want to do. Deep down, I want to compete, and I want to get to the top.'
Liam Draxl recently made it into the top 150 which has him as Canada's fourth best player after Felix Auger-Aliassime (28th), Denis Shapovalov (30th) and Gabriel Diallo (40th). Just two years ago Diallo, with Riedi, won the Winnipeg Challenger's doubles title.
Draxl, who is hoping for a similar career trajectory, outlasted Challenger Tour veteran Hiroki Moriya of Japan (6-3, 6-1) Wednesday to move on to Thursday's Round of 16.
'It's an individual sport, and pretty much every week you're most likely losing.'–Paul Jubb
The total prize money for this week — which has been the only professional tennis tournament in Manitoba dating back to 2013 — is $100,000 with the champion bringing home $14,200 of that for their efforts.
'Most people are ranked between 100-300… like, they'd be in the NHL or MLB and be making a living, a lot more than the guys on the Challenger Tour,' said Draxl, a 23-year-old from Newmarket, Ont.
'This level is not easy. You see a lot of the players who you see on TV, other than the exceptions like star players like (Carlos) Alcaraz and (Jannik) Sinner, they don't break through this level overnight. It's a grind to get through this level, it's really tough, and it feels like you're fighting for scraps. There's like nobody watching, it feels like your ranking is barely going up, and you're just trying to break even out here.'
There's around 200 Challenger events in a year and they take place in roughly 50 different countries. Many players hit the courts in well over 20 of them, and they must always buy a one-way ticket as you just never know how far your game will take you that week. Thankfully the tour covers the cost of accommodations.
'I try and use a travel agent sometimes… I'd rather pay a bit more to worry less because, for me, I find that stuff very stressful. When you lose, sometimes you can't even decompress,' said Jubb, who battled Australian Nick Kyrgios in the first round at Wimbledon in 2022 but has since fallen to No. 422 in the world.
'It's like, 'Well, we gotta find a flight to get out of here,' otherwise you're paying more money to stay here when you don't want to be here. You've got to take care of yourself, rather than a team sport where everything's taken care of by the team.'
In this calendar year alone, Draxl has competed all over the United States and overseas in Portugal, Switzerland, France and Scotland. But to even make it to the Challenger Tour, players need to pick up enough points on the level below which is called Futures. Draxl said that is quite the experience in itself as some of those events are, well, interesting, such as the M15 Cancun that he won back in 2021 in what was his first singles championship as a pro.
'You're not in the hotel zone in Cancun, that's for sure. It was in the middle of the jungle, literally,' said Draxl, who receives funding from Tennis Canada to help cover travel costs. 'You can't even practice, can't even get balls, it's tough to even warm up for your match. People eating there, getting food poisoning constantly. I mean, it just goes on and on and on.'
'There were scorpions in the dorm there. I was in the pool a lot after my match to cool down because it's insanely hot there and there's a tarantula in the pool. I saw snakes in trees, it's crazy, man.'
'It's really tough, and it feels like you're fighting for scraps. There's like nobody watching, it feels like your ranking is barely going up, and you're just trying to break even out here.'–Liam Draxl
Thankfully for Draxl and his competitors, the Winnipeg event is a well-oiled machine — especially since it moved to the new West St. Paul facility in 2023.
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As close as some of these guys are to the big stage — and, more importantly, the big money — it can still feel so far away. And yet, they keep pushing ahead.
'I look back to a final in Mexico where I was completely dying in the heat and it felt like a boxing match. It was so tough physically, and it completely sucked in the moment, but I look back now and I'm like, 'Oh, that was so fun,'' said Draxl.
'So, I think there's a part of me that just enjoys the grind and I'm super grateful to chase my dream. You know, I'm only gonna have this 10-15 year window once in my life so I'm just trying to maximize it.'
The Winnipeg Challenger kicked off July 6 and runs all week with the finals scheduled for noon on Sunday.
taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca
Taylor AllenReporter
Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.
Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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