The Wimbledon 2023 Championships is getting more exciting by the day for the tennis community at large, with many new names making a mark on the tournament. One of those names is Christopher Eubanks from the USA, who has made it to the Round of 16 in the men’s singles event.
Currently, Eubanks has a career-high, global ranking of No. 40 on the ATP Tour. The American is all set to take on World No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas up next on Monday and here is all you need to know about him.
Who is Christopher Eubanks? The American’s rise in 2023 explained
Born in May 5, 1996 and based out of Atlanta, Eubanks turned pro in 2017. He played 3 years of college and university levels of tennis with much success, especially for Georgia Tech. However, the first major moment of his tennis career came at the US Open 2022 when he beat Pedro Martinez as a qualifier.
He tasted some more first round success in a Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year, bagging a win over Korea’s Soon-woo Kwon. Fortunately for Christopher Eubanks, IMG manages him and he did not disappoint in their tournament, which is famously known as the Miami Masters. This was the tournament in which he broke through into the top 100 of the men’s singles ATP rankings, beating the likes of USA’s Denis Kudla, Australia’s Borna Coric and above all, France’s Adrian Mannarino that too in straight sets.
Although his dream run ended in the quarterfinals courtesy World No.3 Daniil Medvedev, who won in straight sets, it was that match which prompted the Russian to recently predict a very bright future for Christopher Eubanks. He was quoted as saying to the ATP Tour –
“I say with my coach that he has kind of — I don’t know if it’s the same in English like it is in French — total tennis. He is not scared of anything. He just goes for it. [He] hits very, very fast and goes to the net as soon as he has the opportunity, has a big serve.
“From what I saw, because I’ve known him for a long time, he managed to find something this year which I don’t think he had before. The consistency of doing back-to-back matches, not missing too much, going for the same shots, just being consistent.”
Besides Medvedev, Christopher Eubanks knows top American players such as Donald Young and Mark McDonald since a long time. He also has had a chance to finally speak with Francis Tiafoe in person recently. Perhaps taking inspiration from these big names, Eubanks seems to have inculcated a ‘zing’ in his game that makes him a dangerous proposition today.
Christopher Eubanks is having an enviable grass court season so far
Prior to the Wimbledon 2023, Eubanks played in the Mallorca Open. In the semi-final and final, the American beat Lloyd Harris and once again, Adrian Mannarino respectively to win his first-ever ATP title. This win enabled the Christopher Eubanks ranking to jump to No.45 ahead of the all-important Grand Slam in London.
Needless to say, Eubanks has had an incredible run at the iconic tournament. In the Round of 64, perhaps few may have predicted that he would beat one of the home favorites and World No.13, Cam Norrie. But he did so in 4 sets and that catapulted him to more global fame.
Eubanks could be extremely proud of himself since being an American, grass is not his favorite court by any stretch of imagination. Yet, having won 8 grass matches in a row now has made him believe that he can compete at the highest level against the best on any court on any given day. Although Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the biggest challenge of his career, Eubanks will be fancying his chances against an opponent who has to had to play back-to-back matches in the last few days and being pushed to the brink physically and mentally.
Christopher Eubanks will take on Stefanos Tsitsipas on Court 2 on Monday at 7.15 AM EST. Should Eubanks do the incredible and move to the quarterfinals, he could once again have a crack at Daniil Medvedev or Adrian Mannarino. Having beaten Mannarino twice already this season and played Medvedev well previously, it could be the quarterfinal to watch out for the most in the men’s singles event.
