LONDON (Reuters) – Christopher Eubanks called grass the “stupidest surface to play tennis on” a month ago but the wiry American was singing a new tune on Friday after securing the biggest win of his career to reach the Wimbledon third round.
Eubanks expressed his disdain for grass in a text message with Belgian four-time major winner Kim Clijsters that he shared online and she gave him advice that he took into his 6-3 3-6 6-2 7-6(3) win over British number one Cameron Norrie on Friday.
“That’s a very different person now, I can tell you that much,” Eubanks said when asked about his earlier view of playing on grass. “I’m loving the grass right now. That person who texted Kim was not too high on it. Very different.”
When Eubanks reached out to former world number one Clijsters, he expressed his frustration about the inconsistent bounces on grass that troubled his movement and felt it also took away from the effectiveness of his serves.
Clijsters, a Wimbledon singles semi-finalist in 2003 and 2006, sympathised with Eubanks’ frustrations and suggested that, among other things, he focus on daily footwork exercises.
After booking his spot in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, the 27-year-old Eubanks said that Clijsters might even get some commission for her tips.
“Hey, if she asks, she’s going to get it,” said world number 43 Eubanks. “She’s a big, big contributing factor to I think some of the success, just keeping my mind fresh and keeping me up in spirits when I wasn’t.”
For Eubanks, his Wimbledon run comes amid a breakthrough season in which he finally cracked the top 100 after a quarter-final run at the Miami Open and earned his maiden ATP Tour title in Mallorca last week to break into the top 50.
Beating a British player in London is often a tall task given the overwhelming support they receive from the partisan Wimbledon fans but Eubanks hopes he was able to win over a few more supporters with his fearless approach.
“Obviously I think the vast majority of the crowd out there today was supporting Cam, rightfully so,” said Eubanks.
“But if I was able to kind of attract a few more fans, a few more Brits, to want to back me the rest of this Wimbledon and on after that, I’d really, really appreciate it, man. This has been extremely special. That was an extremely special match for me.”
For Eubanks, doubts about his potential started to creep in while he was buried deep in the rankings but those struggles led to him taking on work with Tennis Channel where his sharp and good-humored commentary earned rave reviews.
“That was one of the driving forces behind me even starting to do commentary. I said, ‘Man, this isn’t fun. If I have to keep doing this, I could try to find something else to do with my time’,” said Eubanks.
“Now I think doing the commentary has kind of helped my game in a sense, and it’s something that I’m looking forward to continuing, no matter what, no matter what my ranking is.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)
