THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 8, 2023

Christopher Eubanks

Press Conference

C. EUBANKS/C. O'Connell

7-6, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Your thoughts on today's match.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Yeah, I mean, all in all, I'm very, very pleased with how I played. It's always tough kind of having the start and stop of a rain delay.

But I thought I was able to kind of stay mentally there. Got off to a good start. I think I had an early break in the first, wasn't able to consolidate, got broken back. But from that point on I thought I served exceptionally well, thought I played the big points well, I returned well late in the third.

All in all, I'm really, really pleased with my performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Are there any moments during the match, I mean, there's changeovers, quiet time out there, where the sort of bigness of it all hits you and you're playing for a spot in the second week of Wimbledon? Or are you able to keep it small and keep it next ball, next point?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: No, I think a hot moment kind of came in the warm-up when I looked up at the stands of Court 18 and realized, I'm like, Oh, this is the Isner-Mahut court. I watched tennis on this court for three days one time a few years ago. That was kind of cool. And to see the stands pretty packed.

Once the match starts, the lines are the same, the net is the same height. You don't really have time to let your mind wander just because you're so focused on the next point. Especially the way that I play, the margins are so small. When I'm serving, I'm just thinking, How am I going to get this hold? Let's just get this hold. Let's just get this hold. That's kind of where my mind goes.

It's not so much of thinking like, I'm up 30-Love in third round. It's just kind of like, all right, I know Chris is a formidable opponent. If I have a little bit of a letup, he's going to pounce. Let's just get this hold, get this hold, get this hold.

My mind is more focused on what's going on between the lines as opposed to realizing the moment, as you say. I think 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.

Q. On the changeovers?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: No, I'm just trying to get a new drink made or have a snack or something. Not too much, no.

Q. I know a lot has been asked about the text with Kim and your relationship with grass. I don't know if you've talked about when something clicked for you, if you changed something tactically that you feel really opened things up?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I think the thing about grass, and I even spoke with some other players, everybody kind of doesn't feel comfortable the first week. I think when I sent that text to Kim, it was right after the first week.

It was like I didn't trust my movement, the ball was staying so low, it wasn't as fast as I thought it was going to be. But with each week I could take a step back and say, Wow, I feel more comfortable than I did last week.

When I got to Stuttgart -- granted, every grass court is different too, and that's a big part of it. The grass in Stuttgart is very different than the grass at Surbiton, which is also very different than the grass in Halle, and Mallorca was way different.

But just I felt that I was starting to figure things out every single week. Even I think in the first week, I lost second round. The next week I quallied in, lost to Gasquet. The third week I quallied in, I lost to Hurkacz. Then Mallorca happened.

Still even in Halle, I said, Man, I feel way more comfortable than I did last week. It's been a theme and a trend that's happening over past four weeks now, five.

It's been fine. I think it's slowly, slowly growing on me. But at this point I think borderline I might say it's my favorite surface. (Laughter.)

Q. Met you four months ago in Miami when you cracked the top 100. It was so emotional for you, you cried just talking about it. Next week it will be top 40. Four months later. Is it surreal or just a following steps of your latest work?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Yeah, I haven't really thought too much about it. I think I said it to somebody recently, I said your career really changes going from 110 to 85. You can argue that it does change as well going from 85 to 50. But when you spent four or five years hovering between 150 and 200 and 220, that jump from 110 to 85 meant so, so, so much to me because that's what I have been wanting and striving for for so long.

Now it's just everything is just sweet now. Everything just continues. It's like the icing on the cake. Oh, I looked up and I have done a pretty good job even since Miami not even checking the rankings. I knew once I got into top 100 where I had a little bit of cushion, I wasn't like 97, 98, where I knew I could fall out and maybe potentially not be in Grand Slams anymore, main draw.

I think after Miami I ended it somewhere around 80-something. I think in Korea I think I ended around 70. I honestly haven't checked it that much. The only way I know where my ranking lies is usually people tell me or I check Twitter, and they say, Live ranking is this. I'm like, That's pretty cool.

Trying to get to that 110 to top 100, I was checking the rankings like crazy. Now I'm just kind of enjoying it and having fun. Where the ranking is it is. I'm not too concerned about it at this point.

Q. The Brits might not know too much about yourselves until this week. If you don't mind, would you tell us a bit about your journey, your back story.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Okay. Yeah, feels like an icebreaker. (Laughter.)

Yeah, I mean, I grew up playing tennis in the States, 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 racquet, my dad put a racquet 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.

I also was extremely, extremely fortunate to grow up in the city that I did at the time that I did, because there was 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's long-time hitting partner, and got up to 180 himself. His older brother Jermaine Jenkins is now a coach, national coach at USTA, who played at Clemson. 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, so lucky to have those guys at my disposal from a young age.

I had an older cousin that played tennis in Michigan State who kind of coached me from the age of 10 to 14. It was a really cool training. Jarmere was probably the first tennis player I ever looked up to when I was like 7 or 8 years old, and then my older cousin came into my life from 10 to 14, mainly my tennis part of my life, really worked with me. Then from like 15 all through college it was Donald Young.

So I always say, I was so, so lucky to have those people because they kind of took me under their wing and kind of showed me what high-level of tennis was like, and made me believe that it was possible.

I took that on and went on to Georgia Tech and did three years there before turning pro at the end of 2017. Been trying to work my way up ever since then. About as good as I can get.

Q. You mentioned breaking into that top 40 soon. What are your next goals after that then? How high do you see them?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Win my next match right now. I mean, I haven't really thought too much about it, if I'm being honest. I'm just kind of like maybe top 20. I don't know.

It's not really, the number so much isn't as important to me anymore. It's just continuing to play as well as I can and show the level that I can. If I continue to put in the work and work as hard as I have been working, wherever my career ends up is going to be where it ends up.

It's not like if I don't hit 20, I'd consider it like I didn't do what I set out to do or a failure. It's just like, hey, I gave it everything I had. I didn't get to 20 or I didn't get to 10, or I didn't get wherever. It's just like that's not really my focus. I'm just kind of, I guess, living in the moment right now.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your early years. Specifically what was it like to be the son of a Baptist minister? How did that impact you? Just talk about that.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I think just naturally instilling certain values. My grandfather, my mom's father, also started what's now a fairly prominent Baptist church in Memphis as well.

Granted, he passed before I was born, but it's always kind of been I think in my household. The funny thing is about being a preacher's kid is when you're playing tournaments on Saturdays and Sundays, you miss a lot of Sundays if you're actually winning on Saturdays.

That's where the woman kind of took up the mantel a little bit, taking me to tennis tournaments and doing that, and just continuing on with that journey of my life.

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. I don't know it's going to work out. No one really knows if it's going to work out. But just kind of having that belief that, hey, if I keep doing what I'm supposed to do, things will work out the way that they're supposed to I think just kind of gives me peace of mind.

Q. What did you study at Tech? Was there a moment where you thought what happens if I don't make it as a tennis player, what am I going to do?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Started off industrial engineering. Then I realized I wasn't nearly that smart. Then I switched to business.

Yeah, my goal wasn't really -- 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's not like it was play pro tennis or nothing else.

It was like, oh, 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.

Q. A fashion thing. When and why did you start wearing a backwards cap, and what do you like about it?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Ah, it's a good question. So in college, I have always worn a hat, but I used to wear it front, wearing it just like this.

Then I honestly don't know. I think in college at some point we might have been playing a smaller school or something, and I was like, Ah, I'm gonna throw it backwards.

Once I did it so much, I tried to put it forward, and seeing the bill of the hat on my serve started to get a little bit annoying. Then I just consistently started to go backwards from then on.

It seems a little bit counterintuitive when the sun is right there, and I'm like, I can't see. It's like, Well turn your hat around.

But at the end of the day, it's not going to really do anything to block it either way. I'm hitting and I see this bill. I'm, like, Well, this is annoying. So I'm not going to have it this way. I just decided to turn it backwards.

Q. What do you think of the look of it?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Doesn't bother me. Fine with me (smiling).

Q. Your next opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Like yourself, he's a one-handed backhand. Wonder how important it is for tennis in general that you guys with the one-handed backhands are successful given you're in the minority?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I don't really think it's indicative of a thing that's good or bad for tennis. Personally, if I could do it all over again, I might go with a two-hander, just because I spent so many years fighting off balls above my shoulder, realizing how difficult it was.

I think the two-handed backhand is just a lot more functional. I switched to a one-handed when I was like 13. It's a little tough to go back now.

I think from a fan standpoint, they love the aesthetic of the one-handed. I think there is maybe when I look at onies like Roger, Stan, or Gasquet, there is a certain elegance and a flair that's to it when you come up with a good winner off a one-handed backhand side that you may not get really off the two-hand.

I'm not really trying to be pretty. I'm just trying to be functional. If I need to come up with a backhand pass, I need to make the backhand pass. But there are certain days which you're connected on the one-hander and it looks great, and if it's effective, why not.

Q. Can you size up Stef? You've never played him before, right?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: We'll see. We'll see. Not really gonna size him up. I'll size him up when we play.