“He’s on fire again” – Medvedev looks ahead to Eubanks challenge

Daniil Medvedev is not taking his quarter-final clash with unheralded but en fuego American Chris Eubanks lightly.

Medvedev Wimbledon 2023 | Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

July 10, 2023

Two players that had never reached a Wimbledon quarter-final prior to Monday are set to meet in a mouthwatering last eight clash at the All England Club, but the similarities between Daniil Medvedev and Chris Eubanks end there.

Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and a former world No 1, has Grand Slam pedigree, even if it has taken him a while to make hay at Wimbledon. Eubanks, meanwhile, is the quintessential late bloomer. A former NCAA player at Georgia Tech, the American toiled on the challenger circuit (and well outside of the top 100) for years and had begun to contemplate leaving his playing days behind by the time his fortunes shifted significantly.

Tennis Majors

Eubanks has broken out of his funk and surged to the top of the sport in 2023, cracking the top 100 after his run to the quarter-finals in Miami, and solidifying his newfound top 50 status this summer with a title run in Mallorca and a nine-match winning streak that has taken him to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on his main draw debut.

Medvedev, who ended Eubanks’ dream run in Miami, 6-3, 7-5, en route to one of his tour-leading five titles in 2023, knows that the hard-serving 27-year-old will be a dangerous foe, even if he has about 1/20th of the big-match experience that he has.

“He’s a great player,” Medvedev said on Monday after getting past Jiri Lehecka, 6-4, 6-2 RET. “Miami was his first breakthrough in a way. That’s where he went into the top hundred, coming from quallies, made quarters. His best result at the moment.”

“I always believe in myself”

Medvedev, making his 26th appearance in a Grand Slam main draw (compared to nine for Eubanks), says that no matter who he faces at the majors, he always believes that he is capable of great things. He told reporters that his first success at the majors, at the 2019 US Open, where he reached the final, was a game-changer for him in terms of raising his perception of what was possible for him to achieve.

“Since I became maybe top 10, especially since the final against Rafa in US Open 2019, that’s the first time where I was like, ‘Okay, that’s actually possible to go far in slams,'” he said. “Because I think before US Open I was never in quarters. That year US Open I made final in five sets against Rafa. I was like, Now I’m know I’m able to do anything. So I always believe in myself.”

Though he wasn’t given much consideration when pre-tournament favourites were bandied about in the media, Medvedev is right where he wants to be, in a position to be a disruptive force at a Grand Slam again.

“I always want to win these tournaments. Wimbledon was not that successful for me,” he said. “But now it’s already the best result of my career here. I don’t want to stop. I’m playing great. I’m looking forward to next matches and I want to try to win for sure.”