By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – As a personable young Black man suddenly thrust into the spotlight as the next big thing in American men’s tennis, James Blake knows exactly what Chris Eubanks is going through as he enjoys the ride of his tennis life at Wimbledon.
Eubanks is into his first Grand Slam quarter-final after beating fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday but it is not just his demolition ball forehand that has brought him a legion of new fans. Something of a rarity in the cut-throat world of international sport, Eubanks plays with a smile on his face.
In the hyper-tense final moments of Monday’s win he strung together three shocking mishits that would have shamed a parks player but the 27-year-old merely threw up his hands and laughed along with the crowd.
“I’ve always thought that being yourself on the court really endears you to fans,” Blake told Reuters at the All England Club. “Eubanks is genuinely like that and I think that shines through to the fans, that he’s having fun out there. They’re there to be entertained and he’s just having a great time.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s got the work ethic, but he’s also having a good time while he’s doing it and I think that’s going to shine through and I think fans are going to really appreciate that and gravitate towards him.”
Eubanks had never got past the second round at a Grand Slam and this is his first year in the main draw at Wimbledon so it is no surprise that he is enjoying the experience. As a commentator for the Tennis Channel he is more used to watching the latter stages of big tournaments from behind a microphone.
“I hope the cameras follow him because he’s going to be one of the stars who ends up on the side of a bus,” said Blake. “A year ago he was playing Challenge Tour trying desperately to crack the top 100 and he’s now going to be a star in New York where they go crazy for the U.S. Open. It’s going to be hopefully a life-changing experience for him.”
It is now 20 years since the last American men’s Grand Slam winner – Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open – and Blake went through a similar experience to what Eubanks can expect when he was being feted as the new kid ready to take up the baton for his country from the likes of Roddick, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
“I remember the year when I was on the AMEX ads on huge billboards going to the U.S. Open and I was thinking ‘I still remember the AMEX ads with real stars’, which I didn’t think of myself as at the time,” said the man who reached a career high of number four in the world.
“And then I’m like, ‘wait a minute, I’m one of those people that people are coming to watch’. Before that I thought I’d only be on those big courts if I’m playing Agassi or Sampras. Now people are coming to watch me and this is kind of crazy.”
Blake has known Eubanks for years, helping with his training and nutrition, and is confident that he will take his sudden stardom in his relaxed stride.
“People either shy away from that and they don’t like it or they embrace it and then it makes them motivated to think ‘hey, this is fun, let me do this all the time. Let me keep working my tail off so that I can be on a billboard every year when I come back to the U.S. Open’.
“So I hope it’s going to be fun for him and I hope he enjoys being a superstar because I think he is a superstar in the making.”
(Reporting Mitch Phillips; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
