The Chris Eubanks tennis show was introduced to the world at the Wimbledon Championships this year and what a show it was. Chris Eubanks surprised the tennis world by advancing all the way to the Wimbledon quarterfinals before exiting after losing a close match to Danil Medvedev. But his run at this prestigious grand slam tennis event proved that he has arrived, and tennis fans have another American player to follow at grand slam tennis tournaments.
Chris Eubanks Tennis Player Background
Eubanks grew up in the Atlanta area and was a highly ranked junior tennis player in his teen years. He was fortunate to grow up in an area that produced some solid tennis talent with Eubanks being the area’s player to advance the farthest so far in his career.
As a junior tennis player Eubanks was fortunate to meet the family of Donald Young when he started training at the South Fulton Tennis Center where Youngs Parents worked. Eubanks was able to hit with Young when Young was a professional player that made it as high as 38 in the professional rankings. Eubanks credits those hitting sessions with Young as putting him on the path to believing he could maybe be a professional tennis player one day.
Success on the Court Continues at Georgia Tech
Eubanks played college tennis at Georgia Tech from 2015 to 2017 and earned ACC Player of the year honors in both 2016 and 2017. In 2016, playing near the top of Georgia Tech’s varsity team, Eubanks had 34 singles match victories which was the second most singles wins in program history.
In 2017 as a junior at Georgia Tech, Eubanks really started to come in to his own on the tennis court. He had 31 total singles match wins and 18 of his victories were over nationally ranked opponents. His national ranking soared to a career high number 4 as a result of his strong season.
Success on the court at Georgia Tech convinced Eubanks to announce that fall he had decided to turn pro and not return to school for his senior season. He remains about 20 credits shy of earning his degree.
The Professional Tennis Tour Comes Calling
The lure of professional tennis was always there for Chris Eubanks having learned about life on the tour from the time spent with Donald Young in his teen years.
But success on the tour never came easy for Eubanks, and his tennis ranking was as high as 214 as recently as August 2021. Eubanks made progress in 2022 on the tour and finished the season on an 11 – 3 run.
That winning record at the end of the 2022 season was the result of more maturity on the court in 2022 with better shot selection and more consistent ground strokes. That resulted in improvement in his tennis ranking with Eubanks finishing 2022 as the 123rd ranked player in the world and setting up a 2023 tennis season that would exceed all expectations.
Chris Eubanks Tennis Miracle on Grass
Eubanks playing style features a hard serve and lighting fast groundstrokes, notably the forehand that is the hallmark of his game. His game plays especially well on hard court surfaces which is what he grew up playing on in the Atlanta area.
He never had much success on grass and this surface was far from being anywhere near his favorite to play on. Eubanks is quoted as saying that Clay is by far his least favorite surface, and this is evident in his lack of success on this surface.
But the Wimbledon tournament in 2023 was a gamechanger for Chris Eubanks in many ways and his success playing on grass has permanently changed his view of this playing surface. Eubanks was quoted earlier calling the grass tennis court surface “stupid” but with his 2023 success at Wimbledon the surface has become one of his favorites.
Eubanks won his Wimbledon matches handily as he looked like a main draw veteran of the tournament with each successive victory. His win over British tennis player Cameron Norrie was played in front of a packed house with British tennis fans there to support one of their own. Due to the energy in the crowd, Eubanks called that match one of his most special tennis memories and a match he will never forget for the rest of his life.
What’s Next for Chris Eubanks?
The US Open starts in late August and Eubanks can expect an invitation to the main draw for the first time at a grand slam tennis tournament. All eyes will be on this up and coming American tennis player who has raised expectations from tennis fans that will be hoping he can possibly advance to at least round 2 or 3 in this upcoming tournament.
Chris Eubanks adds to the list of exciting young American tennis players making their way up the tennis rankings. We have gotten used to seeing players like Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, and Frances Tiafoe making their presence felt at tennis majors. Now I am looking forward to seeing what players like Eubanks and Ben Shelton can do on the court now that they have had their taste of success at tennis grand slams.
American tennis appears to be in a great spot, let me know in the comments who are your favorite up and coming tennis players.