Christopher Eubanks has enjoyed a dream run at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he is set to play Daniil Medvedev in his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
The American has received an outpouring of support from the fans, peers and even celebrities. Learn more about Eubanks in this edition of Five Things To Know.
Chris Played College Tennis
Eubanks admits he was never one of the United States’ leading juniors. The final year he competed in the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships, otherwise known as Kalamazoo, he was unseeded. So the American opted to attend Georgia Tech, where he was named ACC Player of the Year twice in his three years competing as a student-athlete.
By his third year on the team, Eubanks became a dominant force, tallying an 18-2 record at No. 1 singles and a 31-6 mark overall. He advanced to the quarter-finals of the NCAA Singles Championships, becoming the first from the school to achieve the feat since Bryan Shelton, father of Eubanks’ good friend Ben Shelton.
He Will Crack The Top 100 For The First Time Monday
It has been a memorable week for Eubanks in Miami. Entering the tournament, his career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking was No. 102. By defeating Gregoire Barrere in the third round, the home favourite guaranteed that he would crack the Top 100 for the first time.
If that was not enough, Eubanks maintained his form to upset Adrian Mannarino for a place in the quarter-finals, boosting him to No. 85 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. A win against Medvedev could propel him into the world’s Top 60.
“The past few weeks have been really, really tough just because I’ve been kind of thinking about Top 100 and everything,” Eubanks said. “I had some losses that I shouldn’t have [had] and I was really second-guessing a lot about my game and everything.”
Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Eubanks Is Friends With Jamie Foxx
Three years ago, Eubanks posted a video on Instagram of a challenge in which actor Jamie Foxx tried to return one of the 6’7” right-hander’s serves. In the first few seconds of the video, Foxx was knocked over by the power of the serve.
The pair have become good friends since. The actor congratulated Eubanks on an emotional victory in the Miami third round, writing on Instagram that, “Blood sweat and tears and true hard work has paid off for my good friend @chris_eubanks96 tennis is your passion, my friend continue to rise and congratulations on breaking into the top 100 players in the world! 🎾 💪🏾”.
“It’s amazing man. It’s really, really cool,” Eubanks told the media Tuesday of Foxx’s support. “I’ve known Foxx for two, three years now and he’s become a really, really close friend, someone I can call if I just want to kind of talk through life a little bit.”
His WTA Friends Include Gauff, Osaka, Keys & Stephens
After defeating Barrere in the third round and returning to the players’ area inside Hard Rock Stadium, Eubanks FaceTimed with Coco Gauff. She is not the only WTA star he is friends with, though.
Last year, Naomi Osaka visited the Dallas Open to watch Eubanks compete.
“For me, it’s kind of weird, just because I look at her as just my friend. That’s what she is,” Eubanks told ATPTour.com last year. “But she’s such a global icon and the reach that she has, it’s pretty incredible. It’s pretty remarkable. I think the way that she handles it is incredibly impressive. I’m just honestly honoured to be able to call her a friend.”
At this year’s Dallas Open, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens got a good laugh joking about Eubanks in a piece of content created by the tournament.
“Oh Lord,” Stephens said. “Don’t even get me started on that giraffe. Jesus. We love Chris. We love Daddy Longlegs.”
He Was A Stunt Double For His Hero
In the film ‘Citizen Ashe’, a documentary about the life and accomplishments of Arthur Ashe, Eubanks served as a stunt double for Ashe. He also stood in for the legendary figure for the Ashe ’68 Virtual Reality Experience.
Eubanks’ idols growing up were Ashe and Roger Federer.
Be sure to keep a close eye on Arthur’s double during the #CitizenAshe documentary 👀 https://t.co/Ngd0KWydGx
— Christopher Eubanks (@chris_eubanks96) June 15, 2022