Photo:Mike Hewitt/Getty
Mike Hewitt/Getty
Christopher Eubanks might have surprised some when he stepped out on the tennis court atWimbledonin 2023, but his family always believed in him.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Eubanks began training with his father at the age of 2. After making his ATP Tour debut in 2015 and playing three seasons at Georgia Tech, Eubanks turned pro in 2017.
The American tennis player played against Russian third-seed Daniil Medvedev in a quarter-finals match-up at Wimbledon on July 12, 2023. And though Eubanks fell short of a title, he has quickly become one of the tournament’s breakout stars — as of July 3, he was ranked No. 43 in the world — and is proud of his performance on the court.
From his early career to his Wimbledon debut, here’s everything to know about American tennis star Christopher Eubanks.
He was born in Atlanta, Georgia
Christopher Eubanks Instagram
Eubanks was born on May 5, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia. His older brother, Mark — who is 13 years his senior — started playing tennis first, and he grew up watching his brother play.
“I would take [Chris] out to the court in the stroller, he would sit and watch us," Eubank’s father, Mark Eubanks Sr., toldATPin 2023. “My older son, he had a decent game. He got a college scholarship, but he never had the passion that Chris had, for whatever reason. But it worked out.”
Eubanks’ father continued, “It was around age 2, I think, that I put a racquet in his hand and I noticed he had good eye-hand coordination and then we just built from there.”
Growing up in Atlanta, Eubanks was able to connect with several talented players who helped guide his career. He toldWimbledon, “I was extremely, extremely fortunate to grow up in Atlanta, Georgia, at the time that I did. There were so many players from the city, not too far from my house, that went through the trials and tribulations before me and really helped me out.”
He continued, “Whether it’s Jarmere Jenkins, who’s Serena’s long-time hitting partner, and got up to 180 himself. His older brother Jermaine Jenkins is now a national coach at USTA. Donald Young has been like a big brother to me since I was like 15. All of those guys grew up or were about 10 minutes away from where I lived. I was so, so lucky to have those guys at my disposal from a young age.”
He also shared that it was important for Eubanks to play against other older and more advanced children. Eubanks’ father said, “I would always play him up. He was like 10 years old, playing 14s. And so I didn’t care if he would win a match or not because he’s not supposed to win. But he won quite a few matches playing up. And so when he saw that ball coming, he had to react to it faster at an early age. And that’s how he developed his game, really.”
He played three seasons at Georgia Tech
He began to make major headway into professional tennis in 2023
Al Bello/Getty
Eubanks broke the Top 100 for the first time in 2023, when he won his first two matches in an ATP Masters 1000 at Miami, ranking No. 85. Though when grass court season began not long after, he suffered losses.
It was fellow tennis player Kim Clijsters who offered suggestions for how he could improve his game on the grass. “Try to do some little footwork drills. Even play some mini-tennis games … stay low, use your slice," she told Eubanks, per Wimbledon.
Sure enough, Eubanks followed her advice and won the title at the Mallorca Open on July 1. He later said of Clijsters, “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 made it to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2023
The Georgia native qualified for the coveted Wimbledon tournament in 2023. After successful defeats against Thiago Monteiro, Cameron Norrie, Christopher O’Connell and Stefanos Tsitsipas, he found himself in a quarter-final match-up against No. 3 player Daniil Medvedev.
Though Eubanks ultimately lost the match, he was proud of his Grand Slam debut.
“I’m more than okay with my effort today, how I gave it everything I had. It just didn’t go my way,” he said. “That’s tennis. There’s only one winner at every single tournament. You have to kind of take the good with the bad, take the positive lessons, learn how you can move [forward with] them.”
He added, “I think this week, these two or three weeks have been filled with positives. I didn’t win today. I’m disappointed about it. It’s unfortunate for me. But I think I showed a lot of positive signs that I can take moving forward, so I’m okay with that.”
Shaun Botterill/Getty ; John Amis/NCAA Photos/Getty
Eubanks has been open about his admiration for Jarmere Jenkins, the hitting partner ofSerena Williams, as well as Jarmere’s brother Jermaine, both of whom worked with Eubanks when he was young. According to ATP, both Jarmere and Jermaine enjoyed their own tennis careers before moving on to work with the Williams sisters.
He is proud to help expand racial diversity in tennis
During aWimbledon press conference, Eubanks spoke about expanding racial diversity in the sport and was quick to acknowledge the “many trailblazers” that came before him.
“I think there’s no secret when you see the amount of diversity, especially on the women’s side coming up post-Venus and Serena. But I think on the men’s side, we’re coming up on a really, really good time," he said before mentioning former players like James Blake, Mal Washington and Rodney Harmon. “A lot of us are just piggybacking off of that between Donald Young, Scoville Jenkins. Now you’ve got Frances [Tiafoe], [Michael] Mmoh, myself,Ben Shelton. Bryan Shelton obviously played a huge part.”
Eubanks also said he believes the sport is “starting to trend in the right direction, especially for people of color.” He added, “The more of us that are out there, the more we can hopefully inspire little kids to say, ‘Hey, maybe I should give tennis a try.' "
He is good friends with Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff
Eubanks has also made friendships with other tennis heavyweights likeNaomi Osakaand Coco Gauff. While being interviewed at the 2023 Wimbledon tournament, he shared that his relationships with both women have been very impactful.
He continued, “That’s something Coco has been telling me for a long time. Naomi even says the same thing. That’s kind of been the main thing of just reinforcing and instilling confidence. ‘Hey, you can play at this level, you just got to believe it.’ ”
source: people.com
