LONDON: US tennis ace Christopher Eubanks has been a locker room favorite for many years, his charisma and bubbly personality allowing him to strike friendships and deep connections with players across both the men’s and women’s tours and beyond.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka once turned up at an Association of Tennis Professionals event in Dallas to support Eubanks in his qualifying match, while Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx was there to watch his incredible march to the recent Miami Open quarterfinals.
The 27-year-old is a character people gravitate toward, and as he enjoys the best Grand Slam run of his career at Wimbledon, the world is getting to know Eubanks for a lot more than being tennis’ resident BFF.
Into the fourth round of a major for the first time, Eubanks is carrying an eight-match winning streak, having lifted a maiden ATP title in Mallorca last week before claiming victories over Thiago Monteiro, British No. 1 Cameron Norrie, and Christopher O’Connell to make the last-16 stage at Wimbledon.
His booming serve has seen him fire 72 aces through three matches at the All England Club this week – the highest tally among all competitors at these Championships – and he has won 93 percent of his service games, getting broken just four times in 59.
After three years studying and playing tennis at Georgia Tech, Eubanks turned pro at the end of 2017, and it took him nearly six years before he finally broke into the top 100. That milestone was hit when he won his third-round match in Miami in March. The Atlanta native sat at his bench after the win, fighting back tears, letting it all sink in. Teen star Coco Gauff was one of the first people to FaceTime him after the match.
Three-and-a-half months later, Eubanks is not just a top-100 player, he will crack the top 40 thanks to a heroic grass campaign which will pit him against world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Wimbledon fourth round.
It is a remarkable position to be in, given Eubanks was considering an alternative career in 2021 after spending years hovering between 150 and 200 in the rankings.
He said: “I had a real sit-down with my agent in 2021 and I said, ‘listen, if I’m still 200 by next year and injuries haven’t played a part, I can do something else with my time.’ Like, it’s not that glamorous if you’re ranked around 200.”
That conversation with his agent led to Eubanks getting into the commentary booth for the Tennis Channel in the spring of 2022, while still grinding his way on the Challenger Tour.
“Now I think doing the commentary has kind of helped my game in a sense, and it’s something that I’m looking forward to continuing, no matter what, no matter what my ranking is,” he added.
Commentating is not the only reason Eubanks is currently playing the best tennis of his life.
He said: “I’ve been a lot more diligent in a lot of the stuff; the warm-ups and the cooldowns and getting extra treatment on my body even if my body is feeling fine. Those minor, minor things.
“On court it’s still pretty much the same. I still train the same way but I’m just more diligent I think in the little details that I’m starting to see make a big difference.
“I thought everything was done really on court and in the gym. The other stuff, I was like, I’m fine, my body feels good, I don’t really need to see the physio because I feel fine, so why am I going to go in there? I’d rather go back and rest and just watch tennis on my computer, so that was kind of my mindset.
“I didn’t appreciate it, I didn’t value it, I didn’t understand the importance of it, that’s probably the biggest thing,” he added.
Eubanks received help on his grass game from former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters. After his first week playing on the surface in Surbiton, Eubanks – who became friends with Clijsters during World Team Tennis a couple of years ago – texted her to complain about how much he was struggling on grass, how the uneven bounces were driving him crazy, and how ineffective he felt his serve was on it.
Clijsters, a Hall-of-Famer and four-time Grand Slam champion, gave him some tips on how to adapt to the grass, particularly when it came to movement, and the rest as they say is history. He is a title winner on grass and in the second week at Wimbledon.
Should Clijsters expect a commission now from Eubanks’ earnings these past couple of weeks?
“Hey, if she asks, she’s gonna get it. She’s a big, big contributing factor to I think some of the success, just keeping my mind fresh and keeping me up in spirits when I wasn’t,” he said.
Other conversations that have helped instil belief in Eubanks were with American world No. 10 Frances Tiafoe, who himself has managed to break through by discovering the power of discipline and attention to detail.
“I think for a lot of my career especially after a couple of years out there and still in the Challengers, I questioned whether or not I was good enough to be in the top 100.
“My conversations with Frances have been more along the lines of him telling me and like beating me over the head with like, ‘you’re good enough, you’re good enough, you’re good enough.’
“He has just always reinforced the fact that like, ‘no, you belong here, you’re good enough,’” Eubanks added.
With every victory, Eubanks has been believing more in himself, and the key to his current success has been keeping things simple.
He said: “At the end of the day it’s still tennis. I’ve been playing tennis since I was two, so the lines are still the same, the net’s still the same height.
“Being around as long as I have been, the certain level of experience that I think I’ve had that although I haven’t played at this level that much, I’ve still been able to learn from mistakes of the past.”
One thing that will also still be the same is Eubanks’ approach to life on tour. While others may prefer to stick to their teams and limit their interactions with their peers, Eubanks values the relationships he builds along the way and has no intention of changing that.
“To me I think it’s huge. I mean everybody is different. There are some players on tour I think their focus is primarily on just being the best tennis player they can be and just winning as much as they can. There’s nothing wrong with it, they go about it however they do it.
“For me, I’m still trying to be myself, I’m not going to change and be something I’m not, like this person who is just overly obsessed with winning at all costs.
“Of course, I want to win, everybody out here wants to win, but for me I have to have joy, I have to have fun, I have to joke around in the locker room. I have to do that in order to keep my mind at peace.
“If I come around and I’m too like, ‘I gotta win, I gotta win, I gotta win,’ I don’t play well. I had that those two weeks before Indian Wells when I lost in Acapulco and Monterrey, I was just so focused on winning and getting to the top 100, I played terribly.
“So, for me, I’ve got to do what feels right. And if joking around in the locker room and just laughing and being myself helps me play my best tennis, then I’ll do that.
“It’s not necessarily like I’m making a concerted effort to just like be everybody’s friend, I’m just trying to be myself and if people like it, then great, if they don’t, that’s fine too, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”
As he gets ready to take on Tsitsipas in the last 16, have his feelings about the grass changed compared to five weeks ago?
“At this point I think borderline I might say it’s my favorite surface,” he said.
