Chris Eubanks caused a major upset at Wimbledon as he knocked out fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round to set up a quarter-final clash against former US Open winner Daniil Medvedev.
In fact, Eubanks had never got further than the second round at a Grand Slam tournament before this year's Wimbledon and had actually begun a commentary career with the Tennis Channel last year to help support himself.
At the time, Eubanks was ranked outside the top 150 and could not have dreamed of a Wimbledon run like the one he is on at the moment. Since starting to commentate, Eubanks has enjoyed a remarkable run of form with his performances.
He cracked the top 100 in March and the top 50 ahead of Wimbledon, going on to knock out Thiago Monteiro, British number one Cameron Norrie, Christopher O'Connell and now Tsitsipas. Eubanks says commentary has really helped his "perception on the court" and the 27-year-old American's humble approach and fantastic journey has endeared him to many.
A perfect example of that is his reaction to being ranked in the top 100 for the first time ever when he broke down in tears as he spoke of how much the achievement meant to him. "It’s a benchmark," he said.
"Every professional tennis player, it’s a big deal for them. It solidifies like, ‘Hey, you’re a real pro.’ You’re an established pro.’ Out of everybody in the world that plays tennis at some point, in some week in the world, you were one of the best 100 tennis players in the world.
"In the world! Like, there’s a lot of people that play tennis. A lot of people. And it’s like, I’m sitting here as one of the top 100 best people to do it – one of the best players to do it right now.
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"It feels good. Damn it, man. This s*** is…. Ugh. Why am I crying? This is so embarrassing! But, no, it feels good." And after upsetting Tsitsipas, Eubanks branded his Wimbledon run "surreal".
He said: "I feel I'm living a dream right now. This is absolutely insane. I've tried to block everything out and focus on the next match. But as cliched as it sounds, it's surreal, it's unbelievable. I can't believe this. The fans here have really, really been behind me.
"Even in my match against Cam, obviously I knew going into it it was going to be a tough atmosphere. The crowd, rightfully so, wanted Cam to win and backed him. I felt like when I had good moments, they applauded, and they enjoyed good-quality tennis. Since then they've really, really gotten behind me. I hope they come out in the quarter-finals and show me a little bit more support."
