Chris Eubanks’ first experience of Grand Slam tennis came as a fresh-faced teenager accompanying Donald Young around the tour as his hitting partner. Now the 23-year-old is increasingly getting his own experiences of the big time, seeing off Belgium’s Kimmer Coppejans 6-4 7-6(3) on Saturday afternoon to qualify for the Australian Open main draw.
Eubanks, a lanky 201cm right-hander with a deceptively languid style, has ridden his luck this week. He was trailing Viktor Troicki 6-4 1-2 on Friday when the Serbian had to retire, but he fully deserved to beat Coppejans, producing an exhibition of powerful serving that left the Belgian’s screams of frustration regularly echoing around Court 3.
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“Australia’s been very, very good to me,” said a delighted Eubanks. “I honestly think the conditions suit my game well, I get pretty confident when I get down here.”
But Eubanks’ presence in the men’s singles draw owes much to the 30-year-old Young, once regarded as the next great hope of American tennis. When he was 14, his father Mark brought him to a tennis centre in Atlanta run by Young’s parents. The duo began practising together and soon the teenage Eubanks found himself hitting the road as part of Young’s entourage.
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“It was awesome, opened my eyes to a lot as you can imagine,” laughed Eubanks.
“Hitting with him and other players he was close to really expedited my development, and allowed me to see a bigger ball at a young age. So when I came down to play junior tennis, things seemed a little slower and I felt like I could really take control of the points against my peers. Going from being constantly rushed because you’re a teenager hitting with guys who are top 100, top 50, and then dropping back down, you’re like, ‘Ah, tennis seems a little different.’”
Young is still on the tour, albeit heading in the wrong direction these days – he lost in the first qualifying round in Melbourne – but the pair still practise together whenever possible. “We’ve always remained close, he’s helped me so much,” said Eubanks.
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But while Eubanks retains the wide-eyed exuberance of a player still relatively new to the tour, having taken the college tennis route, out on Court 14, a more battle-weary 23-year-old was regaining his mojo.
France’s Quentin Halys is into the main draw after beating Serbia’s Nikola Milojevic 6-3 7-6(2), afterwards describing himself as serving ‘crazy good.’ A few years ago, Halys was regarded as one of the tour’s upcoming young talents, but he described himself as finally being in a better place after losing his way.
“Life is not really easy sometimes,” said Halys.
“Last year I was here, but it was so tough for me. On court, I wasn’t enjoying a single minute. I took bad decisions, stopped training so hard, stopped fighting so hard on court. You have the tournaments you’re already played three, four, maybe five times, and it’s not easy to go back and give everything.”
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Halys said that he had experienced an awakening over the off season, a sense of how fleeting a sporting career can be, and the realisation had provided him with new motivation to make the most of his talents in 2020.
“Even though I’m still young, sometimes you realise that your career is not so long,” he said. “I don’t want to leave something behind and finish with regrets, so I want to give everything. Now I think I’m on the good path. I’ve made some sacrifices, I know exactly why I’m here, why I’ve trained so hard the last two months.”
Top seed Dennis Novak also joined Halys and Eubanks in the main draw, but arguably the most popular player competing at Melbourne Park on Saturday was the relatively little known Colombian Daniel Galan.
Galan was mobbed by ecstatic Colombians after defeating Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-3 6-2 on Court 7. Such was the sheer demand for autographs and selfies, and the Colombian’s own willingness to pose for them, that security guards had to escort him out of the arena so the next match could take place.
“I didn’t know there were so many Colombians here,” said a somewhat bemused Galan. “It was like Davis Cup!”
Also qualifying for the main draw were Mohamed Safwat, Tallon Griekspoor, Elliot Benchetrit, Alejandro Tabilo, Marco Trungelliti, and Mario Vilella Martinez.