TennisintheHood

For Black tennis fans, this year’s grass court season that culminated with the Championships at Wimbledon was one for the history books. 

In the more than five decades I have been following tennis, I have never seen two Black American men draw so much media attention before and during one of the most prestigious tournaments in all of sports as did Frances Tiafoe and Chris Eubanks, two extremely likeable players. 

It started with the 25-year-old Tiafoe becoming the third Black American to break into the ATP’s Top 10 when he won his first title on grass on June 17, giving him two already this year – the first coming on clay in Houston –and the third of his career. 

Then a couple weeks later, 27-year-old Eubanks went on a nine-match winning streak that gave him his first ATP tour-level title on the grass in Mallorca and a quarterfinal berth on the hallowed courts at Wimbledon’s All England Club. 

On the women’s side, former US Open finalist Madison Keys also mounted a nine-match winning streak while clinching her seventh WTA title on the grass at Eastbourne and forging through to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the second time in her career. 

But it was the media buzz around Tiafoe and Eubanks that I found particularly awesome, because they could be such an inspiration in a sport that still lags in Black male role models. 

“Trust me, both have top 10, even top five,” talent, Black Tennis History Museum founder Bob Davis told me in an email. “Both are articulate and personable, too.” 

Davis added that when you add the success other players like Coco Gauff, Taylor Townsend, Ben Shelton and Alycia Parks are having, “the future looks bright. They will surely inspire more Black juniors to believe that they, too, can achieve greatness.” 

Martin Blackman, the United States Tennis Association’s first black general manager for professional development, agrees. 

“I do think that players like Chris Eubanks, Taylor Townsend, Frances Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh, Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Alycia Parks, Hailey Baptiste, Robin Montgomery, Clervie Ngounoue and many more, are great examples and role models that will inspire black and brown children to play our sport,” Blackman also told me via email. 

In reflecting on the USTA’s diversity efforts, Blackman recalled seeing Tiafoe beat Rafael Nadal in Arthur Ashe Stadium at last year’s US Open held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, then walking past a bust of Althea Gibson upon exiting the stadium. 

“All of these things make me very proud of what the USTA is doing to make our sport look like America,” he said, “but we still need to have a sense of urgency about doing more, faster and capitalizing on the success that players like Frances, Coco, Ben, Taylor Townsend and Chris Eubanks are having now.” 

For Eubanks, the recent success is like a second wind on a career that seemed to be laboring in the minor leagues. 

The 6’7” native of Atlanta and two-time All-American at Georgia Tech turned pro in 2017, forgoing his senior year of college eligibility. Over the next five years, he languished between 150-220 in the ATP rankings.

During his Wimbledon run, he said in an appearance on Tennis Channel how he began commentating as an analyst on the channel during a period of doubt that he would make the main stage as a pro.  

The first sign that Eubanks was ready for the big leagues came at last year’s US Open in which he won his first singles match at a major.

Eubanks duplicated that success with a first-round victory at the Australian Open to start the 2023 season. Then, at the Miami Open in March, he had a breakout run to the quarterfinals, which catapulted him to No. 85 and inside the top 100 for the first time. 

Making Wimbledon’s main draw for the first time, Eubanks almost instantly became a fan favorite, even as he defeated Britain’s top player Cameron Norrie. Eubanks took out No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the quarterfinals where he lost to No. 3 Daniil Medvedev. 

As a quarterfinalist, Eubanks joined an elite group called The Last 8 Club that guarantees him two tickets to the tournament for the rest of his life. But he also joined another, more exclusive group: He is one of just three African Americans to ever reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals (Arthur Ashe and MaliVai Washington are the other two.).  

When the 2023 championships ended, 70 percent of the 15,000 fans who voted proclaimed Eubanks the most inspirational Wimbledon newcomer.  

Afterward, the tennis player/part-time analyst, talked about how surreal it all was. 

“Everything from realizing that I have two credentials at Wimbledon for the rest of my life, to checking my phone and seeing my name as an ESPN alert, to realizing how much I disliked grass at the beginning of the grass court season to now look at where I am,” Eubanks said. 

Where he is now in the ATP singles rankings is a career high No. 31. And his bank account is $450,000 thicker. 

That’s not a bad position to be in as he tries to build on his momentum at the upcoming tournament in his hometown, The Atlanta Open. 

While he’s feeling good about his game right now — his one-handed backhand down the line has been smoking — he’s not making any bold predictions or announcing any lofty goals.  

“I’m just kind of enjoying the journey at this point,” he said. “Wherever my career takes me, and I can continue to have the fun that I’ve been having, I can continue to work as hard as I’ve been working…Where l end up, I end up.” 

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