SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Standing tall and talented at 6-foot-7, it was a dream come true Monday for Atlanta’s relievedly unknown 27-year-old Christopher Eubanks on the center court grass at Wimbledon.
Unknown to such an extent that he began the year ranked 138th, had never reached the quarterfinals of any major tournament, was unsure of where he stood on the grass surface that he cared little for and even called it “the stupidest surface” in a recent text he wrote.
How quickly times change.
Before a packed throng at the prestigious tournament in Great Britain, he brought down the house in stunning 5th-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a little over three hours on a sunny, high temperature afternoon.
“It’s surreal,” he said later after his Wimbledon debut, I can’t really describe it.”
From Atlanta, he played his collegiate tennis at Georgia Tech. He was a good player, nothing fancy, but now he has turned his game around and the crowd let him know it.
Said Tsitsipas, one of the best players on tour and a 2-time singles finalist at Wimbledon’s All England Club: “I don’t know what he was doing before this, but he was just super out there today, his energy, desire, shots down the lines, and just the entire game.”
Presently ranked 43rd, the personable Eubanks had a won-lost record of merely 6-10 before going on the run to the first place trophy at Mallorca, Spain, on July 1. That came on grass, where he had taken a shot at the surface prior to exiting in the second round of the ATP Challenge Tour event.
But at the interview this time, he avoiding speaking of the surface, instead he said the entire experience, all together, has been a whirlwind. He even dropped in a note where he had dreamt he would sometime win a big one like this.
“I didn’t really know if that dream would actually come true,” he said, “but today it did, and I continued to gain confidence, strength, made some big shots, and that included my serve,”
In all, he turned in 19 aces, had some big boomers from deep in the court, made some rapid liners via his forehand and backhand, most that Tsitsipas could only gaze at.
Down after game one’s 6-3 setback, Eubanks battled back with a sparkling return of service to grab game two in a 7-6 tiebreaker that he won 7-4. But he then dropped game three 6-3 and again had to piece things together to take the last two games at 6-4, 6-4, salute and wave to the crowd that included his delighted family and friends.
Let’s put it this way, until about a week ago, even Eubanks did not really believe he was capable of this sort of thing, of beating the best Grand Slam tennis players at Wimbledon, and especially on grass.
As for grass, he went in a different direction this time.
He said: “Those words I used knocking the surface, will never come out of my mouth for the rest of my career. I feel different now after having a very strenuous relationship over the years with that surface.”
After accumulating 53 winners, 16 more than Tsitspiras, he said, “Right now, it’s my best friend.”
On a nine-match win streak after turning back No. 12 Cam Norrie to win the Mallorca Cup, he next faces another top threat in No. 3 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, the 2021 United States Open champion, in the semifinals.
Now Eubanks can say he can show up for events without worrying about breaking through. Those were his most recent concerns, now he no doubt feels that he doesn’t belong, that he can show up for tournaments with higher expectations and knowing that he belongs.
