Fresh off his quarterfinal appearance at the BB&T Atlanta Open in July, Chris Eubanks made the journey to the USTA National Campus to continue his eventful summer training. After working out with USTA Player Development Aug. 8, the Georgia Tech senior visited over 20 youngsters at the summer camp program just a few feet away.

Led by USTA Teaching Professionals, the summer camps have served as a great way for kids to get involved with the game and have fun on and off the court. They were treated to a special appearance by Eubanks, who answered questions, played with campers on the 36-foot court, took pictures and signed autographs. It was his first trip to the National Campus.

“I think it’s beautiful,” said Eubanks, a native of Atlanta. “They did a really, really, really great job with not just the layout, but opening it up to everyone and every American professional tennis player. I think that’s very important and they’ve done a good job with that.”

Standing at 6-foot-7, Eubanks recently wrapped up his junior year with the Yellow Jackets and was selected as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season. In his first Pro Circuit event of the summer, he brought home the title at the Winston-Salem F17 Futures then reached the finals of the Winston-Salem F19 Futures.

As a wild card into the BB&T Atlanta Open, Eubanks then reeled off his first two ATP main draw victories of his career.

“It was an incredible experience,” said Eubanks, who broke into the ATP Top 400 this summer even though he still has one year left at Georgia Tech. “It was kind of tough to go to sleep just because of social media being abuzz and my phone constantly going off with congratulation messages. 

“As a whole, it was a pretty surreal experience. I think I managed it well after the first match because I had a day off and I had time to let things settle and prepare my body for the next day. And I did pretty well in my second match. But having to finish late at night and then not going to sleep until about 1:30 or 2:00 … there was no sleep for me because I was super excited and wired. I think it showed in my last match how tired I was. But all around it was a great learning experience and I was pretty happy with the result.”

To assist with preparing for his senior year, Eubanks has reached out to an experienced customer.

“I’ve talked to (former USC standout) Steve Johnson about it a lot because he knows what I’m going through from having a really good summer his junior year and then coming back for his senior year. He provides a lot of really good advice about managing expectations and continuing to get better.”

Yellow Jacket fans and Orlando tennis enthusiasts may get to see Eubanks first-hand at the USTA National Campus during the 2018 spring campaign. Stay tuned for more details when the college schedule gets announced.