THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2023

Christopher Eubanks

Press Conference

C. EUBANKS/C. Norrie

6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you feel having to play the room's favorite? Obviously it was very loud. Was it difficult for you to focus?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: It was exciting. I kind of knew what to expect going into it. Not many players get that opportunity to play the No. 1 Brit here at Wimbledon. So, I mean, it's no secret when I walked out there that the fans were going to be for Cam. It was just an atmosphere, a moment I wanted to just try and enjoy as much as possible.

Q. What was your confidence level?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Pretty high. I mean, I've been playing well on the grass so far. Serving well, especially. If I'm serving well, I think that typically bodes well for my confidence.

Going into the match I felt like, you know, you never really know until you get out there. And after the first couple games, I think my second service game I had four aces. At that point I was like, okay, I'm feeling good today.

Q. How do you rate this victory in your career, in your life?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Biggest win of my career, no question, by far. Considering the moment, considering the stage, who I was playing, where I played him. By far the biggest win of my career.

Q. How far removed are you from that person who texted Kim and said like, This surface, I don't know what to do?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: That's a very different person now, I can tell you that much. I'm loving the grass right now. That person who texted Kim was not too high on it. Very different.

Q. It's no mean feat getting the British fans on side when you're playing the British No. 1 but you did that today. Do you have a message for the new fans?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Obviously I think the vast majority of the crowd out there today was supporting Cam, rightfully so.

But if I was able to kind of attract a few more fans, a few more Brits, to want to back me the rest of this Wimbledon and on after that, I'd really, really appreciate it, man. This has been extremely special. That was an extremely special match for me.

To be able to maybe take a couple of fans with me, I'm not sure how many of them will be going for me but just to bring a few more along, it means the world. I'm looking forward to getting back out there.

Q. Everyone knows how incredibly difficult a Darwin world the ATP Tour is out there, and you've been working at it for so long. I have two questions. Did you ever have doubts and were there some low moments when there were questions? And a very different question is: When you left Georgia Tech, the ballkids were so sad that you were leaving. What's your message to them today after your Court 1 victory?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I'll go with the second part first. The "golden retrievers," hopefully let them know that I'll be back at some point. I typically go out to a lot of the Tech matches when I'm at home.

It's crazy, I got to watch a lot of the ballkids grow up, because my freshman year, which was spring of 2015, to seeing them now going to college has been crazy. I see some of them that are like finishing in college, and I'm like, wow, I remember when you were just a ballkid. It's pretty cool, but they know I come around when I can.

As for the first point, yeah, there were definitely some low moments. I think that part of the reason I even got into commentary was because I had a real sit-down with my agent in 2021 and I said, Listen, if I'm still 200 by next year and injuries haven't played a part, I can do something else with my time. Like, it's not that glamorous if you're ranked around 200.

Luckily I've been pretty fortunate because I've been able to qualify into a few Grand Slams or get wild cards. I've had a little bit of taste of the bigger events. I've gotten extremely frustrated, just kind of getting a little bit of a taste of it and then going back to the challengers and not being able to produce consistently.

That was one of the driving forces behind me even starting to do commentary. I said, Man, this isn't fun. If I have to keep doing this, I could try to find something else to do with my time.

Now I think doing the commentary has kind of helped my game in a sense, and it's something that I'm looking forward to continuing, no matter what, no matter what my ranking is.

Q. Maybe you'll be the first No. 1 to be...

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: It's a bit of a reach, but we'll see.

Q. I just wanted to know how you look at the diversity of the sport, and do you see yourself playing a role in changing that?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: It's tough to say I play a role because I'm the one who's answering it. It's a very tough question to ask.

Maybe. I don't know. But I think there have been many trailblazers before me that played an even bigger role. I think there's no secret when you see the amount of diversity, especially on the women's side coming up post-Venus and Serena. It's no secret that you see so many girls who are able to look up and see the most successful athlete of all time who looks like them and wanting to get into tennis. It's no secret there have been probably more diversity on the women's side.

But I think on the men's side, we're coming up on a really, really good time. We've had, like I said, trailblazers to come between -- I'm going to skip people -- between James Blake, Matt Washington, I'll go back even further, Rodney Harmon, guys who kind of set the stage. I think a lot of us are just piggybacking off of that between Donald Young, Scoville Jenkins. Now you've got Frances, Mmoh, myself, Ben Shelton, Bryan Shelton obviously played a huge part.

I think things are just kind of starting to trend in the right direction, especially for people of color. I think the more of us that are out there, the more we can hopefully inspire little kids to say, Hey, maybe I should give tennis a try.

Q. These past few weeks, winning in Mallorca before coming to Wimbledon and now getting into the third round, has it sunk in yet in terms of how far you have progressed in such a short period of time?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Not really, honestly. Just because when Mallorca ended, it was quickly on a flight -- got to celebrate a little bit -- but quickly on a flight to head to Wimbledon, wanting to get on the court and just lock in as quick as possible.

It'll be interested to see how things settle in for post-Wimbledon. Obviously I'm hopefully that's not going to be for another couple weeks. I think that's when things will kind of really hit of just kind of being able to reflect back saying, Wow.

Post-Miami I hit the road, I was three weeks in Korea, I did a training week in Rome, went to Geneva, Paris. I haven't been home since what, two weeks after Miami.

I think finally when I'm able to land in Atlanta, get home, get settled in, that's when I can really say, Wow. Get back into my familiar settings, whether that's training at Tech or going in the gym again, the same gym I work in. I think that's when things will start to settle in. Right now it's just kind of like, all right, next match, let's keep going, let's see what else we can do.

Q. How were you feeling in February, March, when you had lost a couple of matches I guess but before Miami, just what frame of mind you're in there and, yeah, what your kind of hopes and frustrations were at that point?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Well, I mean, I started off the year playing pretty well. I quallied into Auckland, and went a round, losing to Goffin. Got my second Grand Slam main draw win in Australia.

So things started off pretty good, but I think I started to inch closer to 100. I think I sat about 102 for about two, three weeks. Those were the weeks that I didn't play well. In Mexico, I don't even think I won a set.

Typically, like if I lose, I can get a set. I can serve well enough to get one set. I lost in straight sets two weeks in Mexico, knowing that each match would probably put me over that threshold of being top 100.

Then I began to kind of find my form again in Indian Wells, losing to Marterer in three. Even after the match I said, okay, that feels a little bit more like myself. To think of how far I have come since then, since being really, really down in the dumps to now, it feels like it was so long ago, feels like I'm a totally different person. My game is in a totally different place, and I think my confidence is way, way in a different place.

Q. Going deep at Wimbledon can put somebody on the map for a much broader audience beyond the biggest of tennis fans. What would you most want people to know about your journey, the people who are just learning about you?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Probably just perseverance, honesty, super cliche, like, Oh, stick to it, keep it going, it will happen.

There's no guarantee it's going to happen, but I think in that case, having that level of having faith that it is going to work out, that if I continue to do the right stuff, at some point it's gonna click. Obviously I would have loved for it to click sooner. I think this is my fifth or sixth year on tour. Now kind of hitting the stage where I've always kind of watched on TV and wanted to be, yeah, I would have loved for it to happen sooner, but it didn't.

There's nothing I can do to control that. But just kind of still having a fresh mindset and kind of, like I say, just persevering, just hey, I kept going at it. Eventually hopefully good things are going to happen, and luckily they are. I think it's more just perseverance and not really getting down when things weren't going as well.

Q. You have spoken about your text exchanges with Kim Clijsters from Mallorca. How is your friend doing after today's match? Any messages from people we would know?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: You know, since Mallorca, I have been working each day to kind of knock down the text messages. I have gotten them down to pretty much not that many unread, but I opened the phone and there was over 100-something.

I know I have to play tomorrow, so I probably won't get a chance to address them all. I'll hit obviously my family and some very close people. My focus will be more centered on trying to get another win tomorrow and then finishing out Wimbledon whenever it does and then we can kind of go through and see how many more messages I have.

Q. Is Kim going to expect a commission?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Hey, if she asks, she's gonna get it. She's a big, big contributing factor to I think some of the success, just keeping my mind fresh and keeping me up in spirits when I wasn't.