5 Things to Know About Christopher Eubanks, the American Tennis Player Who Just Made It to the Wimbledon Quarterfinals
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Christopher Eubanks is on a fairytale run at Wimbledon 2023. The American tennis player is into the tournament quarterfinals for the first time.
Here, 5 things to know about this up-and-coming star:
1. He's from Atlanta, Georgia.
Eubanks, who goes by Chris, was born in 1996 in Atlanta. His dad, Mark Eubanks, is a Baptist minister, and a tennis fan. His maternal grandfather started a Baptist church in Memphis. "My grandfather, my mom's father, started what's now a fairly prominent Baptist church in Memphis," Eubanks said. "The funny thing about being a preacher's kid is when you're playing tournaments on Saturdays and Sundays, you miss a lot of Sunday services!" His mom, Carla, would accompany him to his Sunday matches because his dad was in church.
He continued, "I think it's more so just about instilling faith at a young age is pretty important, especially to my parents, and I think faith can mean different things to different people. For me, one of the main things of having faith is just simply taking it into every walk of life, which could be also my tennis. It's just trusting that if I keep doing what I'm supposed to do, it's going to work out."
2. He played college tennis at Georgia Tech.
Eubanks played three seasons, where he was a was a two-time All-American. He was also named ACC Player of the Year—twice. In 2017, he left his senior year to turn pro.
"My life goal wasn't really to play pro tennis or nothing else. I always said that I wanted to be a professional tennis player, but I don't really think I fully believed it until my junior year," he said recently. "It was like, let’s get a degree in the business school, and maybe I play pro tennis, maybe I coach, we'll see what happens. Things just kind of started to gain some momentum around my junior year, and I decided to fully pursue tennis."
3. He almost retired after the pandemic.
He remembers telling his agent, "Listen, if I’m still 200 by next year and injuries haven’t played a part, I can do something else with my time. It’s not that glamorous if you’re ranked around 200." Eubanks even started doing commentary on the Tennis Channel, and was thinking about alternate careers if he didn't break through.
Yet, he's been on a hot streak lately, winning his first ATP title in Mallorca in the lead-up to Wimbledon.
4. He's 6'7".
If you're watching Eubanks play and thinking to yourself, how tall is he? He's really, really tall: 6 foot 7 to be exact, and if he didn't play tennis, he has said he would play baseball.
5. Wimbledon 2023 is his breakout year.
Before Wimbledon 2023, he only had two Grand Slam match wins—ever. Now, he's upset Stefanos Tstsipas and Cam Norrie to make it to the quarterfinals. In March, he was ranked outside the top 100, and by the end of the tournament, he'll reach a career high ranking. After beating Tsitsipas in a thrilling five-set match 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, he said, "I feel like I'm living a dream right now."
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