It took three close sets ending in tiebreaks but Chris Eubanks delivered three knockout blows – and the American will now take on the heavyweights in Wimbledon’s second week.
A late bloomer, 27-year-old Eubanks is another product of the college tennis scene in the States and is arguably now punching above his weight after years of toiling around world No 150 to 200.
That is not to detract from his marvelous talent. At 6ft 7in, the mountainous Eubanks is one of the best stories of the first week here, and even won adulation from the locals in seeing off Brit Cam Norrie on Friday night, before beating Christopher O’Connell 7-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Asked by Mail Sport to sum up his journey, Eubanks simply laughed. ‘It feels like an icebreaker,’ he said. ‘I grew up playing tennis in Atlanta, Georgia. I had an older brother that played tennis and my dad was involved with my brother when I came along.
‘When I got to the age where I could run and swing a racket, my dad put one in my hand. It just kind of went from there doing the normal route of playing local tournaments and junior tournaments and just trying to work my way up.
Chris Eubanks is one of America’s surprise hopes in the second week at Wimbledon
The 6ft 7in star defeated home favorite Cam Norrie on his way to the second week
The 27-year-old pictured with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman behind the scenes at Wimbledon
‘I also was extremely fortunate to grow up in the city that I did at the time that I did, because there were so many players from the city, not too far from my house, that kind of went through the trials and tribulations before me and kind of really helped me out.
‘Whether it’s Jarmere Jenkins, who’s Serena Williams’ long-time hitting partner, and got up to 180 himself. His older brother Jermaine is now a coach Donald Young who 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. So I was so lucky to have those guys at my disposal from a young age.’
Eubanks, a deeply religious man, is the son of a Baptist minister who studied industrial engineering alongside playing college tennis.
‘My grandfather, my mom’s father, started what’s now a fairly prominent Baptist church in Memphis,’ adds Eubanks, who took up some broadcasting for the Tennis Channel at times he thought he might not make it big.
‘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!
‘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.’
Eubanks is the son of an Atlanta Baptist who would skip Sunday Service to practice tennis
Next up for Eubanks is a fascinating showdown against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday
Eubanks goes into Monday’s game knowing he is set to break the top 40 in world rankings
It’s certainly working out for Eubanks at Wimbledon, and he will play Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday in the fourth round knowing he is almost certain to break into the top 40.
‘The grass has been fine and I think it’s slowly, slowly growing on me,’ says Eubanks, who texted Kim Clijsters for advice on how to deal with the British lawns. ‘But at this point I think borderline I might say it’s my favorite surface.
‘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.
‘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.’
It has proved a smart decision.