The last American player left at Wimbledon’s round was a 6’7″ Atlanta native with an underdog story and a thrilling game.
Christopher Eubanks 27,, who played at Georgia Tech, was already on the rise, but he proved he belonged on tennis’ biggest stage after beating the top tennis player in the UK and making it to the quarterfinals of the venerable tennis tournament.
Prior to the tournament, the odds of Eubanks winning Wimbledon were 100 to 1.
“I’ve done a pretty good job of focusing in on each match individually and not really focusing on the magnitude of what’s going on,” the 26-year-old said, according to The New York Times.
Eubanks had nearly given up on his playing career when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived; he was ranked around 200 in the world. However, his renewed dedication to the game prompted him to treat it with full-time consideration and to pay the costs required to make it to elite matches.
After making the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, Eubanks became eligible to play in Wimbledon, where he has surpassed all expectations. That includes the Black community. The Olympic committee confirmed that Eubanks is the
first African-American player to make it to the quarterfinals since 1996.After beating the fifth-ranked player, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, in the round of 16, Eubanks advanced to the round of 8, where he lost to Daniil Medvedev, the world’s third-ranked player in five sets, on July 12, 2023.
Chris O’Connell, who fell to Eubanks early in Wimbledon, saw the he magic of performance this year.
“He’s riding on confidence and he’s playing some unbelievable tennis,” O’Connell said.
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