Mike Tyson. Gov. Brian Kemp. The Atlanta Braves.
Just a few of the notables to give Chris Eubanks a social-media shoutout over the past few days. The former Georgia Tech star and pride of Atlanta is the last American standing at Wimbledon. Support for the 27-year-old is swelling by the hour ahead of his quarterfinals match Wednesday.
“It’s pretty special,” Tech’s veteran coach Kenny Thorne said Monday. “Getting into Wimbledon is a special thing. Just showing up and getting into the main draw of Wimbledon is really special. A lot of pros don’t make it to that level. For Chris to get in and feel as comfortable as he does, making it through to the quarterfinals? It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy.
“It’s really special for Georgia Tech. It’s special for Chris. I’ve been coaching awhile, and this is something extremely special. We’re all cheering him on and are so excited.”
Eubanks turned to professional tennis in 2017, opting then to skip his senior season with the Yellow Jackets. He twice was named the ACC player of the year and was given the Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award as a junior. He also worked as a student assistant in the Tech athletics communications and public-relations office when he wasn’t on the court.
Pro success, however, had been hard to come by for Eubanks until recently.
A 6-foot-7, 180-pound right-hander, Eubanks hadn’t advanced past the Round of 16 in any professional tournament before the Mallorca Championships in June. It was there that Eubanks beat Alex Michelsen, Ben Shelton, Arthur Rinderknech, Lloyd Harris and Adrian Mannarino, respectively, to claim his first ATP Tour title.
It was the breakthrough moment he had been pushing toward.
“I’m excited for him. He’s been out there for a while trying to make it, and he’s finally doing it, so it’s awesome to see,” Donald Young said. Young is a fellow Atlanta tennis pro and long-time friend and mentor to Eubanks. “Quarters at Wimbledon, that’s a total different thing. That’s something to where things just have to go right. You can have all the tools and the mentality, but it’s capitalizing on the moment and battling. That’s hard to predict, but for him to get to the dance? I’m very excited and thought this was always possible.”
Eubanks, who was a business administration major at Tech, graduated from Westlake High School in 2014. He helped the Lions reach the state championship finals in 2011 and 2013 and was a member of the National Honor Society and Beta Club.
He continued his strong play at the junior tennis level, going 48-6 during the summer of 2013 before he enrolled at Tech. Eubanks won the One Love Tennis Junior Super Championship and the Georgia State Closed Junior Challenger and was a member of the USTA National Boys’ 18 Team.
So the Atlanta tennis community long has been familiar with the type of talent Eubanks harbored. Now seeing that talent rise to the surface this week on the biggest stage has instilled a tremendous sense of pride in that community.
“He loves celebrating people,” Thorne added. “If he wasn’t winning, he would be celebrating others. He celebrates people really well, and so that makes it really, really easy to celebrate him.”
A 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday got Eubanks to this point. In his Wimbledon debut, the Atlanta native also defeated Thiago Monteiro, Cameron Norrie and Christopher O’Connell, respectively, en route to becoming the third Black American in the modern era to reach the event’s quarterfinals.
A two-time All-American at Tech, Eubanks is scheduled to compete in the Atlanta Open starting July 22 at Atlantic Station, where he will now undoubtedly be a main draw. Peter Lebedevs, the tournament’s director, remembered that this time last year Eubanks gave Lebedevs a ride to the All England Club so that Lebedevs could watch someone else play.
“Obviously it’s been fantastic,” Lebedevs said of Eubanks’ run. “We’ve known Chris for many, many years just as an ambassador to tennis with the USGA, then in his transition to Georgia Tech and then when we gave him the wild card (in the 2015 Atlanta Open). We’re looking forward to him coming here in a very different position than he has ever come here before. It’s going to be a new Chris Eubanks.
“I get a text from somebody here in town every time he wins a set. Everyone is just so excited about it.”
Eubanks next faces Daniil Medvedev at approximately 10:15 a.m. ET Wednesday (after the conclusion of the women’s singles match that begins at 8 a.m.) in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Medvedev is the No. 3-ranked singles player in the world and is 41-8 this season with five titles under his belt.
It will be a tall task for Eubanks to continue his storybook run, but the former Yellow Jacket said he won’t try to make the next match any bigger than any other.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job in the past, maybe starting around a year or so ago, of being able to kind of just separate everything and look at the next match as just that match and not really considering the moment,” Eubanks said during his post-match news conference Monday. “Not considering the round or the stage or the tournament. Just realizing, ‘Hey, this is an opponent I have to play.’
“When (Wednesday) comes it’s going to be another match, it’s going to be me stepping on the court. It just so happens we’re going to be in the quarterfinals (at Wimbledon).”
Eubanks watch party
Tech athletics will host a watch party for Eubanks’ quarterfinal match starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Coda Courtyard on West Peachtree Street in Midtown.
The event is free and open to the public. Food and beverages will be available for purchase at Coda’s Collective Food Hall.
About the Author
