THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 10, 2023

Christopher Eubanks

Press Conference

C. EUBANKS/S. Tsitsipas

3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference of Christopher Eubanks.

Chris, give us your thoughts on making it to the quarterfinals.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Dream come true. Yeah, it's tough to really put into words, but to be able to come out today and play the way that I did, just kind of take everything in, it's surreal. I can't really describe it. It would be better if you guys asked questions. I think that might make things a little bit easier.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What aspect of all of this to you is the most surreal part or the hardest to believe?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I don't think there's one in particular. I think there's a few different ones.

Everything from realizing that I have two credentials at Wimbledon for the rest of my life, to checking my phone and seeing my name as an ESPN alert, to realizing how much I disliked grass at the beginning of the grass court season, to now look at where I am. There's so many different ways I could go about it.

I just think the entire experience all together has just been a whirlwind. It's been something that you dream about. But I think for me I didn't really know if that dream would actually come true. I'm sitting here in it now, so it's pretty cool.

Q. You were talking about this dream coming true a moment ago. You were talking about the weirdness of it all. In two days you're about to play in the quarterfinals against Daniil Medvedev. How do you get yourself into the mode of, I belong here, this is a match that not only do I want to win but I think I can win and here is how I'm going to do it?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I think I've done a pretty good job in the past, I'll say, like, nine months -- well, no, maybe around a year, around US Open time, of being able to just kind of separate everything and look at the next match as just the match, not really considering the moment, not considering the round or the stage of the tournament. Just realizing, Hey, this is an opponent I have to play.

Yeah, it's going to be a little bit more difficult now just because I checked my phone. It's a bit nuts right now. It's crazy to see my social media feed that I'm just used to kind of going to, seeing it's a lot of me. I'm like, What is this? This is weird.

But I think I've been able to find a way to compartmentalize everything, realize this is a pretty big moment, but also saying, This is a tennis match that I need to play in a couple days.

I'm not too worried about it. I think for today I'm going to really enjoy this, really, really enjoy it, just think back on it, realize how surreal it is, how crazy it is.

When tomorrow comes, it's going to be another match. It's going to be me stepping on court. Very well could have been first round Wimbledon, second round. It just so happened that we're going to be in the quarterfinals, which is a big stage.

At the same time when we get out there, it's still just a tennis match. I think at this stage of my career, I do a better job of looking at each match as a tennis match, not considering the moment as much as I used to earlier in my career.

Q. You seem to have become an overnight sensation at the age of 27, which is a testament to the way you play, the courage you show on court. How much of your focus on the game comes from your family, your background, the way you were raised?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: We weren't a super big sports family. Like my dad got me into tennis because he liked tennis. He picked it up with his older brother. When my brother and I came along, it was just easy to kind of put us into tennis. It's not like we came from a super long lineage of high-level athletes.

I think it's more so a lot of the people that I grew up around that have influenced me, I think have had a really strong impact on the way that I look at sports and I look at tennis, starting from Jarmere Jenkins, Jermaine Jenkins, both of them, moving on to my older cousin Trey Eubanks, who actually played college tennis at Michigan State, who was the only other player to play Division I tennis in my family, up until my older brother did play Division I tennis. Then it went to me.

Then I spent years and years around Donald Young, which I think played a huge impact on me and my success. Even now being as close to Coco as I am. Being good friends with Naomi. I'm around enough tennis players to be able to pick their brain, hear the way that they look at certain things.

That has had a bigger impact on how I look at sport and how I look at tennis and my career, as opposed to just being so much on my family. I think my family has done a great job of helping make me, I would say, more well-rounded outside of sport, just try to be a good person.

From the tennis side, I think I've been fortunate to be around some really, really incredible people, some really incredible athletes. I think that's had probably a larger influence speaking specifically on the tennis, not me as a person.

Q. Are you able to put into words what it is really like for you in the middle of a match? Is it easy, is it difficult not to get carried away with all the attention and the euphoria of being in this situation? Wimbledon is different to Miami. You're in the middle of history as well and tradition. What is it like specifically in the middle of a match for you? How do you handle that?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: The middle of a match, at that point it's just a tennis match honestly. I don't think of any time in which I've been in the middle of any of my matches here in which I said, like, Wow, I'm down a break point at Wimbledon, per se. It's, What am I going to do down break point? What's going to be the strategy to get me out of this situation? Or what's going to be the strategy to help me close out this game.

You don't really focus on the place you're at. You're more so focused on the opponent, what's been working, what hasn't been working throughout the course of the match. That's kind of where your head goes. I haven't really thought too much about the location or the court. It's more so about what's going to work right now. That's kind of where my mind stays throughout the course of a match.

Q. Wondering if you're feeling something like an honorary Brit at the moment. You've had incredible support after knocking out the British No. 1.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Yeah, I think so. That's pretty fair to say. The fans here have really, really been behind me. Even in my match against Cam, obviously I knew going into it it was going to be a tough atmosphere. The crowd, rightfully so, wanted Cam to win, backed Cam.

I did feel like they were very fair. I felt like when I had good moments, they applauded, and they enjoyed good-quality tennis. I think since then they've really, really gotten behind me this entire week.

I guess you could say, yeah, I do feel a little bit like an honorary Brit and I hope they come out in the quarterfinals and show me a little bit more support.

Q. What does it feel like when you have the whole of Wimbledon backing you?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Yeah, I don't really know. That's a tough one to answer of exactly what it feels like. It feels great obviously. You'd rather have the fans for you than against you.

Yeah, I don't think -- it hasn't really set in yet that this made hundreds of thousands of people come out and they really want to see me do well. I think it's kind of an in-the-moment type thing based on the ebbs and flow of the match and how the crowd has been supporting the players. It's kind of something you feel then but not as much outside of it, I would say.

Q. You played one of the greatest sportsman in history in a documentary film. If you could have an imaginary sit-down with Arthur Ashe, what do you think you'd talk about, try to pick his brain?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: If I had that opportunity, I'd honestly just want to pick his brain on what he thinks of my game. That would probably be the coolest thing, to be able to say, Hey, maybe you've seen me play, what do you think? Where are some areas I can improve? I know that you got a pretty big serve, you had a good forehand, you had a nasty backhand slice. I'm trying to do a little bit of that. You like it? You don't? Just to kind of get his honest opinion.

But to be able to portray him in that documentary was really, really cool. It was an experience not just doing film, which was a bit different, something I'd never done before, but also having to do the research that I did, having to go back and watch old film to try to get the technique down. Also watching tons of interviews of him just to try to learn his demeanor, his perspective on things, his philosophy, how important education was.

So many different things that it challenged me. But it was also super, super rewarding when I got to see the final project. It was something that I take great pride in and I'm excited I was selected to be able to do it.

Q. Who or what was it that got your dad into tennis? Logistically, how are you and your team adjusting to this long stay at a Grand Slam for the first time?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: So as I said, my older cousin played college tennis at Michigan State. His father, my uncle, got into tennis as just a means to kind of socialize with some of his colleagues. I don't know the exact order. It may have been racquetball first and then tennis.

My dad, just wanting to have something to bond with his older brother, started playing racquetball together. Then my uncle said, You should try tennis. That's kind of where it started.

We just so happened to live in Atlanta. I don't know if it was then, but I know it is now, the largest tennis market in the U.S., per capita. There's tons of tennis courts, tons of tennis players, coaches, and everything. It was pretty convenient of a sport to say, Oh, maybe I should play tennis. My dad started to take lessons. He ended up getting my brother into it. It kind of went from there.

The second part?

Q. How are you and your team...

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: We've had to change hotel checkout dates a couple times. That's been about it. Everything else has pretty much stayed the same.

Typically when I book the hotels, especially at slams -- it's my second time actually being in the main draw on my own, I've had a couple wild cards before -- I'll typically say, Let's book until Friday just because the cancellation policies can be tough. We'll see what happens. We had that happen. Moved it again to Monday.

Then I believe yesterday or two days ago, we said, Let's just move it to next Friday just to see. If we got to move it one more time, we might just move it all the way to the end of the following week.

That's really the only logistical change that's had to be made. Everything else has been pretty much the same.

Q. You mentioned this has been a whirlwind for you. In the last two, three weeks, what's been the biggest lesson for you?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Biggest lesson? I guess that I like grass.

Yeah, it's been a bit of a blur, if I'm being honest. Like between finishing Mallorca, the final on Saturday afternoon, then getting here Sunday at 2 or 3 a.m., there still hasn't been that window of time to kind of process everything. It's just been, like I said earlier, just focusing on the next match.

When I finished Mallorca, I knew I played Thiago Monteiro first round. That's where my focus shifts. Then after that I move on to the next match. That's where my focus is. It just continued to go on from there.

I haven't had the time to really kind of sit back and look and think about what has changed or, like you said, lessons I've learned. I'm sure I'll have time for it.

Right now it's been, Oh, I finished this match, who's next? I didn't really check the draw that much. I knew the first two spots. I knew Thiago, to play Norrie after that. I didn't really know O'Connell was next, I didn't know Stefanos would be next. It's like, Oh, what's next? Okay, let's just move on.

I haven't really had that time, but I definitely will at some point.

Q. Do you still work as an analyst for Tennis Channel?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Yeah, I do. I plan on continuing to do so. It's a lot of fun, it's something I enjoy. It's definitely something I want to continue doing.

Q. How would your rate your performance today and how would you analyze your next opponent? Does it help to analyze the next opponent?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I think what helps analyze my next opponent is that I played him a few months ago. That's probably going to be the biggest thing. Granted, different court, different surface, different conditions. That will probably be the biggest thing.

You asked the first one, the first part was?

Q. How would you analyze your game today?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I thought I played well when I needed to. I didn't feel like I served as well as I had in previous rounds. I think I was middle to late second set, I saw the stats come up. I only had one ace. I'm like, Man, it's been a bit of a dry spell for me. Usually I'm able to produce a little bit more on the serve.

The conditions were a bit tough when we got out there. The wind was kind of swirling. It was tough to really get comfortable. Like I say, in tennis, you just got to play the big points, play certain points better than others. I think I was able to play well when I needed to in order to get the win.

To me that's an even more promising sign. To say I can still win matches against high-level opponents even when I'm not just redlining the entire match, when I have a few ups and downs, but I'm able to lock in when I need to.

Q. Coming into this tournament, what did you think the best possible performance would be for you and what do you think it is now?

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: Tough question because I try not to put so much emphasis on, I want to get to this round or I want to win this. I've done that before early in my career. Doesn't really work for me. I can't just set the goal of saying, Oh, I want to win a certain amount of matches. I feel like it builds a little bit of pressure.

For me, when I go on court, as long as I can go out there with a positive mentality, I know I'm going to just give it everything I have, I'm kind of okay with it. I'm okay with whatever the result's going to be. As long as I can honestly say after the match I tried to problem solve, I tried to do what I said I was going to do, it just didn't really go my way today. I'm okay with that.

Yeah, it helps when things are going well and you're able to win those big moments because your confidence continues to grow. I didn't really set a goal of coming into here.

I was just coming off the back of Mallorca, my first title. I didn't know what to really expect. I knew my first round against Thiago was going to be tough. I said, Man, he's beaten me on grass before. Who's to say just because I won in Mallorca I'm going to come and beat him. I lost the first set, was able to rebound from there.

I try not to set the expectation on a certain amount of match wins or losses, whatever. I'm just saying, at the end of the match can I look back and say I did everything I was supposed to do and I gave it everything I had? It doesn't work, it doesn't work. Okay. If I can live with that, win or lose, I'll take it, so...

Q. You mentioned you asked advice of Coco and Naomi. Can you talk about what kinds of tips or advice they've given you.

CHRISTOPHER EUBANKS: I think the biggest thing, it's a common theme amongst both of them, they've been saying for a long time that they feel like I belong at this level. For a long time I questioned, again, whether or not I was consistent enough to play at this level really consistently.

I knew I could come out on any match and maybe light it up, could cause some guys some trouble. I don't know if I really believed I could put it together match after match after match against quality opponents.

That's something Coco has been telling me for a long time. Naomi even says the same thing. That's kind of been the main thing of just reinforcing and instilling confidence. Hey, you can play at this level, you just got to believe it. When I'm around them, to hear them talk about their belief, it's a bit infectious. It does rub off on you.

When they talk about their goals or what they feel when they go on court, I feel a little bit like the odd man out because I'm like, You guys are mentally different than I am. You guys are so much more, like, locked in and confident when you step on the court.

I think it's slowly starting to rub off on me where when I step foot on the court, Hey, I can play at this level, I belong at this level. I just have to go out there and actually believe it. Be okay with giving it everything I have. Whatever the result is it is.