“Things are starting to trend in the right direction, especially for people of colour” – Eubanks on improving diversity in tennis

Christopher Eubanks played the anti-hero on Friday at Wimbledon, knocking out British No 1 Cam Norrie in a tough, four-set victory.

Despite the 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 scoreline not going the way of the home favourite, Eubanks still won himself plenty of fans on day five at Wimbledon 2023 with his breathtaking play. The past three months have been the most successful of Eubanks’ career, with a quarter-final run in Miami, followed by a title in Mallorca recently.

After his second-round win on Friday, the American opened up about the importance of diversity in tennis, and the role that he sees himself playing in this transformation.

“There have been many trailblazers before me” – Eubanks pays homage to past tennis players of colour

When asked what role he sees himself playing in changing the diversity of tennis, Chris Eubanks is quick to defer to those who have come before him.

“It’s tough to say I play a role,” the world No 43 responded. “I think there have been many trailblazers before me that played an even bigger role.”

Eubanks elaborated on the impact that players such as Venus and Serena Williams have had on the women’s side of the game in tennis.

“I think there’s no secret when you see the amount of diversity, especially on the women’s side coming up post-Venus and Serena,” highlighted the 27-year-old.

“You see so many girls who are able to look up and see the most successful athlete of all time who looks like them and wanting to get into tennis. It’s no secret there have been probably more diversity on the women’s side.”

When it comes to men’s tennis, however, Eubanks believes we’re heading into a golden era of diversity.

James Blake a huge inspiration for Chris Eubanks

In a recent conversation with Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, Chris Eubanks emphasised just how much James Blake has done for the diversity of tennis.

“A person who gets really missed, and it’s kind of sad how we just skip over him—James Blake.

“He was four in the world at the time of Roger, Rafa, Novak, Murray, Ferrer, Wawrinka, del Potro. He got to four, and he was top 10 in the world for a while,” stressed Eubanks.

“James Blake was four in the world bro, and you see how hard it is to get top 10? To get to four in the world, that’s really impressive.”

The American went on to highlight the extent to which he feels as though those who have come before him have set the stage for his success now.

“We’ve had, trailblazers to come between James Blake, Matt Washington, I’ll go back even further, Rodney Harmon, guys who kind of set the stage.

“I think a lot of us are just piggybacking off of that between Donald Young, Scoville Jenkins.

“We’re coming up on a really, really good time” – Chris Eubanks

With the groundwork laid by other players over the past two decades in tennis, Chris Eubanks is positive about the future of diversity in tennis.

“I think on the men’s side, we’re coming up on a really, really good time,” Eubanks declared.

The world No 43 elaborated, explaining, “Now you’ve got Francis, Mmoh, myself, Ben Shelton, Bryan Shelton obviously played a huge part.”

“I think things are just kind of starting to trend in the right direction, especially for people of color. The more of us that are out there, the more we can hopefully inspire little kids to say, ‘Hey, maybe I should give tennis a try.’”

Eubanks is perfectly placed to make a deep run at Wimbledon 2023, having gained a third round match against Australia’s Christopher O’Connell, ranked No 73 in the world.

The winner will face a likely round of 16 match against No 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has played back-to-back five set matches to open his Wimbledon 2023 campaign.

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