ATLANTA -- Long before he was a two-time All-American and back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year at Georgia Tech, Chris Eubanks was just a boy hitting balls with dad.
“My dad put a racket in my hand and pretty much said this is what you’re going to do and I haven’t regretted it for a second," Eubanks said.
The Westlake High school grad has a full schedule of professional tournaments this summer. He started the summer off by winning his first pro title.
“It was incredible," Eubanks said. "I took along the mindset that I had toward the end of the season at the NCAA tournament where I try to treat every match like it’s the final. Just try to take it one match at a time. It’s a really cliché thing that tennis players say, but I don’t know how many of them actually do it. I try to make that concerted effort every match.”
But his big win didn’t exactly pay off the way you might think. The only money Eubanks could collect was expense money. The money he used to get to the tournament, stay at the tournament and eat at the tournament.
“I knew this going into it," he said. "It’s just kind of how things are done. A little bit frustrating at times when you have a good week, you get really excited, you get the rankings points and you look at the money that you have to say no to. At the end of the day, it is what it is.”
But there are some things that are invaluable.
“It allows you to evaluate yourself against the best players in the world," Eubanks said. "It helps get your name out there so when you get out of school, you’re not starting at complete ground zero.”
Eubanks’ summer is just getting started. He will play in at least two tournaments before playing the BB&T Atlanta Open next month.
