No. 7 Match of '23: Chris Eubanks extends Wimbledon Cinderella run by ousting Tsitsipas

Tennis Channel will re-air this match on December 8 at 7 P.M. ET.

Tennis has had its share of Cinderella stories, but Chris Eubanks brought a special, crowd-pleasing magic to his quarterfinal run at Wimbledon this year. It’s rare that an athlete in his position can express what the experience is like as loquaciously and relatably as the 27-year-old Atlanta native did during his turn in the global spotlight.

Eubanks was the everyman, living out the fantasy of millions. Far from a sequestered super-jock, he went the college route and took six years to crack the Top 100. A week before Wimbledon, he won his first title, on grass in Mallorca. In the second round at the All England Club, he beat local favorite Cam Norrie.

Did he belong on a show court against a Top 5 opponent like Tsitsipas? Eubanks looked like he wasn’t sure. He went down an early break, and sprayed his low-margin one-handed backhand all over the court. The younger Tsitsipas looked like a polished veteran by comparison.

In set two, the 6’7” Eubanks began to assert himself, and show off a few of his big-man skills. He kicked his serve high to Tsitsipas’s weaker backhand. He sent his lethally flat forehand darting through the grass. He planted his long arms and legs at the net. He survived a series of tough holds. And then he got a little lucky: In the tiebreaker, a net-cord winner put him up 4-2.

The next question was: Could Eubanks sustain this level of play? Again, the answer seemed to be no. He botched a drop volley at the wrong moment, and was broken twice in the third set.

In the fourth, Eubanks began by making sure he held serve, and got out of a 15-30 jam with two aces. With that shot clicking, the rest of his game followed suit. At 4-4, he uncorked a forehand winner, and broke serve by following a finesse return to net. He had the underdog-loving crowd behind him, and Tsitsipas on the ropes.

By the middle of the fifth, though, he had let him off again. After breaking in the opening game, Eubanks dropped serve to make it 3-3. Instead of folding, he broke again with a titanic backhand, and cupped his hand behind his ear, Djokovic-style. At 5-4, Eubanks saved a break point when a Tsitsipas forehand caught the tape and fell back, then closed out the match with a nerveless forehand rocket.

After the handshake, Eubanks strode to the middle of the court, raised his arms over his head, and soaked in the waves of cheers. It was a gesture learned from the sport’s superstars, but with Eubanks you could imagine what it felt like.

“It’s been something that you dream about,” Eubanks said. “But I think for me I didn’t really know if that dream would actually come true.”

Two days later, he would lose another exciting five-setter, to another Top 5 opponent, Daniil Medvedev, in front of another wildly supportive crowd.

Eubanks’ Cinderella was the stuff of dreams, but it was also the stuff that makes Grand Slams the magical occasions they are.