Chris Eubanks impressed fans with a breakout year in 2023 but struggled to maintain that form this season.
There is rarely a year gone by where tennis isn’t introduced to the next big American star on the ATP Tour.
In 2023, it was the turn of Eubanks, who wowed fans with a sensational run to the Wimbledon Quarter Finals in his first main draw appearance at SW19.
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He rose to a career high ranking of 29th in the world upon the conclusion of the Wimbledon tournament last year, but has struggled since.
Eubanks lost to Jannik Sinner at this year’s French Open in the first round, one of three opening round defeats at the Grand Slam level this year.
A disappointing season has seen Eubanks fall out of the world’s top 100, and will now need to qualify, or receive wildcards to play Grand Slam tournaments in 2025.
It was a tough year for Eubanks, who has now revealed the one rule he would like to change at Major tournaments.
Chris Eubanks says he would get rid of five set Grand Slam matches
Speaking to the Tennis Channel Live podcast, Eubanks responded after being criticized for his comments on five-set Grand Slam matches.
“I knew that was going to be a bit of a controversial take with you guys, such traditionalists in the sport,” he said.
“But our generation, our attention spans are not that long.
“We’ve got to shorten things up to keep the sport growing and putting more money in everybody’s pockets.”
Grand Slam tournaments are the only place where fans can still watch five set matches, as the rest of the tour switched to three set contests back in 2008.
There haven’t been too many complaints about the longer matches that remain on tour, as fans often appreciate the maintenance of tennis ‘history’.
However, never one to shy away from controversy, Patrick Mouratoglou recently gave his thoughts on five-set matches, as he promoted his Ultimate Tennis Showdown tournament.
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“We know that tennis the way it is now is not going to be the future of tennis,” he said.
“All the figures show it, it’s not me saying that.
“For the new generation [of tennis fans], it’s not going to work.
“I mean, all the figures show it, and it’s not a surprise, because they would not watch something that is very long, that’s very slow.”
Mouratoglou’s ‘UTS’, sees players compete in timed ‘quarters’ rather than games or sets, and only first serves are allowed.
Alex de Minaur won the UTS Grand Final tournament in London earlier this month, as fans were entertained by what some predict could be the ‘future of tennis’.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty ImagesChris Eubanks’ five-set classics at Wimbledon in 2023
Eubanks may not be the biggest fan of five-set matches but that’s not to say that the American hasn’t taken part in his fair share of classics in recent times.
In fact, on his legendary run to the last eight at Wimbledon in 2023, he played two thrilling five-setters against top five seeds.
2023 Wimbledon 4R: Chris Eubanks beats Stefanos Tsitsipas
Having battled past Thiago Monteiro, Cameron Norrie, and Christopher O’Connell to qualify for the fourth round at Wimbledon, Eubanks was faced with a first career meeting against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The American had never beaten a top ten player in his career, and things didn’t get off to the best of starts as he dropped the first set to the Greek 6-3.
He battled back and won the next set to tie things up before Tsitsipas took the third, leaving him just one set away from a maiden Wimbledon quarter final.
Eubanks was not ready to give up, however, as he gritted his teeth and won the next two sets 6-4, 6-4, to secure his first top-ten win and a place in a Slam quarter-final.
A stunning performance, and one that set up another fierce clash against one of the best players on the ATP Tour.
2023 Wimbledon QF: Daniil Medvedev beats Chris Eubanks
Having beaten Tsitsipas, Eubanks was high on confidence as he entered his first-ever Major quarter-final match against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
Again he dropped the first set before picking things up, playing some sensational tennis to take a 2-1 lead.
The pair could barely be separated in the fourth set as it went to a tiebreak, with Eubanks dropping the set to Medvedev, having been just four points from a place in the semi-finals.
That was as close as he would come, as Medvedev took control in the fifth set, clinching his spot in the last four, 6-1.
It was a devastating defeat, and perhaps one that altered Eubanks’ perception on five set matches.
Eubanks lost another five-set thriller at the US Open this year, as Arthur Rinderknech got the better of him 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, (10-8).
It remains to be seen if Eubanks can get back on track in five-setters, but he’ll certainly be hoping to do so if he can qualify for the Australian Open which begins on January 12.
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