Dan Evans claimed yesterday that young British tennis players have it too easy and are not willing to work.
But this is definitely not the tale of the Hull teenager who lost both his parents as a boy and was brought up on a council estate by his grandmother Val.
And the Wimbledon wildcard, who left home to go US college aged 16 and won the NCAA title, said: “You have got to be tough and for sure I definitely look at my background as something I can use to my advantage and I always believe it has made me a stronger person from it. So for sure something I think is a positive.
“My first coach Jonny Carmichael has always ingrained that into my head because I did have a little stage when I was younger when I did get a little self pity.
“He always was like: ‘This is your situation and you can’t change it, so if you’re going to moan about it you’re not going to get anywhere’.
“You’ve got to make the most of what you’ve got and from that point on that’s always been the mentality I’ve had. It is what it is and you’ve just got to work hard and do you.
“That’s the mentality I’ve had and that’s why I’ve said I’m so lucky to have had the people I’ve had around me. They’ve not allowed me to look at it that way and they just said you’ve got to get on with it.
“That’s been what it is. That’s the truth.”
Liverpool fan Jubb’s football heroes are Brazilians Ronaldinho and Roberto Firmino but his tennis role model is Frances Tiafoe.
And watching the American, who is the son of immigrants from Sierra Leone who learned tennis in the tennis centre where his father worked, helped convince him to choose tennis over football after he was scouted by Hull City.
“I think I was 14 or 15 and I saw Tiafoe on YouTube,” he said. “Obviously his background was pretty tough. He kind of had a similar thing. I remember I messaged Jonny a few paragraphs saying: ‘If this guy can do it…’ He gave me a lot of belief to think that I can do it as well.
“You could obviously see how much he loved the game and how hungry he was to make that jump into the pro tour and stuff, and it was easy to see for me.
“That was kind of the same hunger, the same hunger I still have now – it was just very relatable. That’s why it was so inspirational for me. I’ve hit with him and we’re actually like friends now it’s been really good to actually make a connection with him.”
Now Jubb, who came through the LTA system, wants to be a similar example for other British kids.
“Obviously he was a great inspiration for me and obviously it would be nice to give people that belief that if you do have a tough background that it shouldn’t be used as an excuse in anyway and at the end of the day it’s down to you,” said the 19-year-old.
“It’s possible. At the end of the day if you’re willing to put in the hard work anything is possible really.”
