Wimbledon is the oldest, (arguably) the most prestigious and surely the most storied tennis tournament in the world. And the biggest story coming in this year was the possibility of Novak Djokovic making an indelible mark in the history book, by shooting for his 24th Grand Slam title. However, one of the most inspiring stories must be that of the 27-year-old American Christopher Eubanks, who entered the tournament ranked No 77, but muscled his way into the quarter-final round on Wednesday (July 12).

Firstly, the 36-year-old Serbian powerhouse Djokovic, renowned for his exceptional defence, mental acuity, and unwavering determination, is on course for a record-equalling eight Wimbledon titles this year — Roger Federer (retired) also has eight — and five consecutive years as Wimbledon champion. He has reigned supreme since 2018, with the tournament not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The No 2 ranked player in the world, who started playing professional tennis in 2003, has made several dents in the record books and is aiming to add more before calling time on his career. He has been ranked world No 1 for a record total 389 weeks in a record 12 different years and finished as the year-end No 1 a record seven times. He has won an all-time record 23 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 10 Australian Open titles — he was notably deported from Australia in 2022 after arriving in the country unvaccinated for the coronavirus, and was not able to defend the crown he won the prior three consecutive years. However, he regained that crown in January of this year after being allowed to play.

Djokovic has completed a non-calendar year Grand Slam in singles, becoming the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once. He is also the only man to achieve a triple career Grand Slam in singles by winning each of the four majors at least three times, and the only player to complete the career Golden Masters in singles by winning all nine Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Masters tournaments, a feat he achieved twice.

Djokovic made it through the first three rounds of this year’s tournament without dropping a single set, albeit against unseeded players, but met up with the super-serving Hubert Hurkaczin the Round-of-16 on July 9, and things looked very different. Hurkacz tallied 33 aces in the encounter and appeared to be the answer to the Serbian’s dominance, but this was short-lived. Djokovic emerged victorious after four sets but had to endure three tiebreakers in the opening sets, winning two of three: 7-6, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

The win advanced the No 2 to face the world ranked No 7, Andrey Rublev, in the quarter-final on Tuesday (July 11). Rublev missed last year’s tournament along with his Russian compatriots and all Belarusian players, due to Wimbledon imposing a ban in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but he has been a leading voice in opposition ever since the war broke out. Rublev made things interesting by taking the first set 6-4 and garnered support from the fans on centre court, but was overcome by Djokovic’s resilience and relentlessness, losing the next three sets 1-6, 4-6 and 3-6, becoming the latest to fall before the man that is expected to be king.

The Serbian will take on the No 8 ranked Jannik Sinner in the semi-final today (July 14) and the JustBet expectation is for him to get to the final on Sunday, barring a major upset. Standing in the way of Djokovic’s historical milestone is expected to be the No 1 ranked Carlos Alcaraz, whose semi-final match is also slated for today against the No 3 ranked Daniil Medvedev, who stopped the superb run of Christopher Eubanks in the quarter-final round on Wednesday (July 12).

Which leads to the feel-good story of Wimbledon this year. Eubanks, who until July 1, 2023, had never won a professional tournament and was ranked No 163 in the world this time last year, compelled himself to the quarter-finals at the All-England Club (Wimbledon) with some gusty performances. The 27-year-old Atlanta native, who turned pro in 2017, won his first career match at a Grand Slam tournament last year when he beat Pedro Martíinez in the first round of the US Open, and won a first-round match at this year’s Australian Open.

With his powerful serve as well as a soft touch around the net, Eubanks won the Mallorca Championships on July 1 by defeating fourth-seed Adrian Mannarino (the No 35 player in the world) in the final. From that tournament onwards, Eubanks had been on a nine-match win streak, including the four Wimbledon matches to get to the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

His journey over the past two weeks has been very hard-fought, with all five matches having at least one tiebreaker, and the only three-set contest featured all three games being decided by tiebreakers. The first two matches were four-setters and the last two went the distance, including a shocking upset win over fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday (July 10).

The 6-foot-7 athlete set another career milestone in out-hitting and out-manoeuvring the No 5 from Greece, coming from 2-1 down to record the monumental 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-5, 6-4 victory. His first win over a top-10 player in his career, as well as his first trip to any Grand Slam singles quarter-final. And it was poetic that Eubanks registered his biggest win on what would have been the 80th birthday of the late tennis icon Arthur Ashe.

Unfortunately, his Cinderella run came to an end at the hands of Medvedev on Wednesday, but his achievements in Wimbledon 2023 would have been unimaginable just over two weeks ago, and a player with a losing career record shone as one of the most inspirational stories, under the brightest lights in tennis.

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