LONDON | In three weeks, with his first ATP title and an incredible quarter-final at Wimbledon, Christopher Eubanks fell in love with the grass. And the English public also showed their love for him on Wednesday, saluting his performance with a standing ovation, despite his defeat at the hands of Russian Daniil Medvedev.
In this hard-fought match, the unexpected American led two sets to one, before losing 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and 6-1 in front of the third seed.
Despite the turnaround, despite the severe score in the final set, Eubanks sat with a smile in the famous “media theater” of the All England Club, ready to look back on this fortnight, which has undoubtedly just changed forever. his career.
Two years ago, in fact, the 6’7″ giant did not know if he would continue tennis. At 25, stagnating outside the top 200 playing Challenger tournaments, a far cry from Wimbledon’s luster, they’was given another season before deciding.
A “fun” game
But he hung on. Luckily, because with some good performances this year, but above all, this incredible breakthrough in London, he will flirt with the top 30 of the ATP on Monday.
With the same candor that has driven him since he became the darling of England fans, Eubanks kicked off his Wednesday press conference with a speech light years away from that usually delivered by the loser.
AFP photo
“It was really fun to be part of this game,” humbly rejoiced the powerful hitter from Atlanta, who finished his tournament with 321 game winners, four better than the mark set by his legendary compatriot Andre Agassi. , in 1992 (Wimbledon began compiling this data in 1977).
“I think fans get what they pay for in terms of entertainment and quality tennis,” he added. I was simply dominated [à la fin]. Daniil is one of the best players in the world and there’s a reason he’s one of the hardest to beat.”
AFP photo
The icing on the sundae
This status as the best in the world, the American, is still far from dreaming of it, despite the 92 rungs he has climbed in the rankings since the start of the season.
“I could say to myself, okay, now, I want to be in the top 20. But I have already set goals with my ranking in the past and it has not worked, he philosophized. I kinda threw that out the window.”
“What I want is to take advantage of what is happening. No matter where my career takes me, I want to keep having the same fun […] I think considering the five years that I spent […] between the 220th and the 150th place to play all these Challenger tournaments, what happened to me, it is the icing on the sundae.
► Medvedev will have to face world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz on Friday in the semi-finals. The 20-year-old Spaniard beat fellow youngster, Denmark’s Holger Rune (6), 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to earn his place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time in his career.
2023-07-12 23:29:10
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