Overnight sensation Christopher Eubanks has stunned Wimbledon, beating fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set thriller to reach the quarter-finals.
The giant Eubanks trailed two sets to one but powered back to win 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.
“It’s like I’m living the dream right now,” the unseeded player, ranked world No.43, said. “This is absolutely insane.”
The American, 27, described grass as the “stupidest” surface to play on just last month after a miserable run.
But then his luck changed in dramatic — and potentially life-changing — fashion.
He beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the final in Mallorca to win the first title of his career, before hitting his purple patch at the All England Club.
He has now won nine consecutive matches on grass.
“Those words will never come out of my mouth for the rest of my career,” he said in reference to his previous derogatory comments.
“The grass and I, we’ve had a very strenuous relationship over the years but right now I think it’s my best friend.”
Before arriving at the All England Club, Eubanks’ record at Grand Slams had been modest.
Of his eight main draw appearances he had lost in the first round six times. He had tried and failed four times to qualify for Wimbledon.
Eubanks, who stands at 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 metres), described his experience this year as “surreal”.
“Everything from realising 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 realising how much I disliked grass at the beginning of the grass court season, to now look at where I am,” he said.
Rune into Wimbledon quarters, ‘not afraid’ to face Alcaraz
Holger Rune on Monday became the first Danish man in 65 years to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals and insisted he is “not afraid” to face anybody, even world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
World number six Rune came back from a set and a break down to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
He will tackle Alcaraz in the last eight after the top seed came from behind to get past former finalist Matteo Berrettini in his fourth-round clash 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
“They are both great players, but I am not afraid. I am excited,” said Rune, who was supported on Court One by Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik.
Rune, already a two-time quarter-finalist at the French Open, had been just two points from defeat in the previous round before seeing off Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in five sets.
On Monday, Dimitrov, the 24th-ranked Bulgarian who made the semi-finals in 2014, pocketed the first set after carving out a key break in the eighth game.
The veteran was a break ahead early in the second set, which 20-year-old Rune retrieved in the eighth game.
He levelled the match in the tiebreak.
After securing the third set, also on a tiebreak, Rune broke for 4-2 in the fourth courtesy of back-to-back double faults by Dimitrov.
Rune wrapped up the match, becoming the first Dane since Kurt Nielsen in 1958 to make the quarter-finals when Dimitrov pushed a weary backhand wide.
“Grigor is an amazing player, he pushed me to the limit,” said Rune after a performance in which he fired 11 aces and 46 winners in total.
“It was a crazy match, tough and long. But I always fight to the end. “I kept telling myself that Wimbledon is only once a year and that I have to fight to have any chance of winning.”
Meanwhile, Alcaraz was made to work for his win but saif he knew it was “going to be really tough”.
“Matteo is a great player, he made the final here on grass. He’s playing great and it’s not easy after losing the first set,” he said.
“I knew I was gong to have my chances, it’s something I am working on to stay focused and to be able to come back.”
Djokovic wants high noon at Wimbledon rather than late show
Novak Djokovic wants an end to Wimbledon’s late, late shows so he does not have to play the same match over two days in radically different conditions.
The defending champion made his 14th quarter-final at the tournament with a four-set win over big-serving Hubert Hurkacz in a match that started Sunday evening but finished on Monday afternoon.
The All England Club has a locally agreed 11:00 pm curfew as the grounds sit in a residential area in leafy south-west London.
Djokovic believes the 1:30 pm start time on Centre Court is too late and suggested a noon start instead.
“The curfew is probably something that is much more difficult to change because of the community and the residential area we are in,” said Djokovic.
“So I think the matches could be pushed at least to start at 12:00. I think it would make a difference.”
When his clash with Hurkacz was suspended on Sunday, he was two sets ahead with the match having started under the Centre Court roof.
When it resumed, the roof was open and Hurkacz grabbed the third set before Djokovic went on to claim a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-4 win.
His third-round win over Stan Wawrinka on Friday ended just 15 minutes before the curfew kicked in.
On Thursday, Andy Murray was two sets to one ahead of world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas when their second-round match was halted.
On the Friday resumption, Tsitsipas claimed the next two sets and victory.
Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton said the start times will “be part of our review as we get into the end of the championships”.
She added: “A whole range of things go into the decision to start when we do on those courts.”
Djokovic kept up his push for a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon title and 24th Grand Slam with a 90th win from 100 matches at the tournament.
In the fourth set, he broke for a crucial 4-3 lead, ending Hurkacz’s perfect run of 67 service games at the tournament this year.
Sabalenka wants shield from ‘hate’ after Azarenka booing
Aryna Sabalenka backed Elina Svitolina’s call for a statement from tennis authorities to explain the absence of handshakes between Ukrainian players and their Russian and Belarusian rivals at Wimbledon to shield players from “so much hate”.
Victoria Azarenka, from Belarus, was booed off court following her defeat by Ukraine’s Svitolina on Sunday.
As has become common, Svitolina did not shake hands with Azarenka in protest over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus is a key military ally of Moscow.
Azarenka, who held her hand up in the direction of Svitolina, seemingly in a gesture of respect, left the court to a chorus of boos from some sections of the crowd.
The two-time Australian Open champion said her treatment “wasn’t fair”.
“I thought it was a great tennis match,” she added. “If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or the crowd, quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame.”
Svitolina and her fellow Ukraine players all refused to shake hands with Russians and Belarusians at the recent French Open.
She called on the sport’s governing bodies to explain the position of Ukraine players.
“I don’t know if it’s maybe not clear for people, some people not really knowing what is happening,” she said. “So I think this is the right (thing) to do.”
Belarusian second seed Sabalenka, who beat Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday to reach the quarter-finals, backed Svitolina’s call.
“As Elina said, I think someone has to come out on social media with the announcement that there is not going to be a handshake so players will not leave the court with so much hate,” she said.
“It would be good for the crowd to actually know what’s going on. There is a reason behind no handshake.”
Men’s third seed Daniil Medvedev said it was a “pity” that Azarenka was booed. The Russian added: “I think the people didn’t know the story behind it, and that’s why it happened.”
But All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said Wimbledon had no plans to issue a statement.
“Historically in tennis the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is entirely a personal decision for them and I think we don’t really want to start mandating what happens,” she said.
“I think we have an incredibly knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think in most part they would understand what was happening.”