SI:AM | The American Man Shocking Everyone at Wimbledon

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. My one complaint about the Home Run Derby is how quickly it moves. It’s difficult to follow.

In today’s SI:AM:

???? Christopher Eubanks’s Cinderella run

???? Inside the Alabama baseball gambling scandal

???? Northwestern fires Pat Fitzgerald

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Christopher Eubanks’s unbelievable run continues

A 27-year-old American with a losing career record is one of the brightest stories at Wimbledon this year.

Christopher Eubanks, who until July 1 had never won a professional tournament and was ranked No. 163 in the world this time last year, has come out of nowhere to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club.

Eubanks is an Atlanta native who played at Georgia Tech before turning pro in 2017. He won his first career match at a grand slam tournament last year when he beat Pedro Martínez in the first round of the U.S. Open and won a first-round match at this year’s Australian Open. His career ATP singles record is 21–33.

But lately Eubanks is on a tear. He won the Mallorca Championships on July 1 by defeating fourth-seed Adrian Mannarino (the No. 35 player in the world) in the final. Now he’s won four matches at Wimbledon to reach the quarterfinals.

Eubanks’s most shocking win to date was yesterday’s five-set upset over fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas. That sets up a quarterfinal match against 2021 U.S. Open champ Daniil Medvedev tomorrow, where he’ll look to become the first American man to reach the semis at Wimbledon since John Isner in ’18.

“I feel like I’m living a dream right now. This is absolutely insane, when you paint all of the context. I’ve tried so much to block everything out and just focus on the next match—as cliché as it sounds—but ... it’s surreal,” Eubanks said in an on-court interview after his win over Tsitsipas. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe this.”

The unlikely nature of Eubanks’s run isn’t the only thing that makes it so enjoyable. At 6'7", he’s a unique player who’s fun to watch, with a powerful serve as well as a soft touch around the net. Hard-core fans have also gotten to know him through his appearances as a commentator for the Tennis Channel, and now casual fans have been introduced to him through his play in London.

The commentary job was part of Eubanks’s plan for his post-playing career. When he made his Tennis Channel debut in April 2022, he was ranked No. 153 in the world. But he’s playing the best tennis of his career at just the right time, ironically on a surface that he’s confessed he hates. Earlier in the grass-court season, Eubanks texted four-time grand slam winner Kim Clijsters and complained that “grass is the stupidest surface to play tennis on.” Clijsters replied with some advice about working on his footwork, and Eubanks has been on a roll ever since. The match against Medvedev will be his toughest test yet, but Eubanks has shown over the past week that it’s best to expect the unexpected.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Pat Forde got to the bottom of the gambling controversy that led to the firing of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon. The man who placed the bet in question has also sparked gambling investigations at other schools.
• Northwestern fired Pat Fitzgerald yesterday amid allegations of hazing within the football program.
• Shohei Ohtani’s two-way skill set makes him the biggest attraction at the All-Star Game this week, but Stephanie Apstein writes that his ability to dodge questions about his impending free agency is equally impressive.
• Julio Rodríguez didn’t win the Home Run Derby, but his record-setting round was still an important moment for Mariners fans, Greg Bishop writes.
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the derby, and Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman was another standout, hitting dingers from both sides of the plate.
• Conor Orr believes these three NFL teams will exceed all expectations this season.

The top five...

… things I saw during the Home Run Derby:

5. Marshawn Lynch’s presenting the trophy (with a massive chain).

4. Salvador Perez’s suit jacket.

3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s walking away from the plate immediately after the swing that clinched a spot in the finals.

2. Adley Rutschman’s 27, featuring a mid-round switch to the other side of the plate.

1. Julio Rodríguez’s record-setting 41 in the first round. 

SIQ

On this day in 1976, the Braves held a dual promotional event that began with several couples getting married at home plate and concluded with which very different event?

• Pro wrestling
• Motorcycle racing
• Fire breathing
• Bull riding

Yesterday’s SIQ: How many home runs did all 10 competitors combine to hit in the entire inaugural Home Run Derby in 1985?

• 31
• 55
• 89
• 112

Answer: 31. So, 10 fewer than Julio Rodríguez hit in his first turn at bat last night.

Considering how anticlimactic the early iterations of the derby were, it’s a miracle that it’s now become a must-see event. From 1985 to ’91, players each got two turns at bat and had five outs before their turn was over. Any swing that did not result in a homer was ruled an out.

Reds outfielder Dave Parker won the first derby with six homers. Wally Joyner and Darryl Strawberry tied the following year with four each. The worst derby was either 1987, when Andre Dawson won with four homers, beating Ozzie Virgil (two), George Bell and Mark McGwire (one each), or ’90, when five of the eight competitors failed to send a single ball over the fence. Ryne Sandberg won that year with three and was the only player to hit more than one homer.

MLB tweaked the format in 1991, expanding the competition to three rounds with 10 outs per round. That format (with some small tweaks over the years) produced some memorable moments, including Bobby Abreu’s 24 first-round homers in 2005 and Josh Hamilton’s 28 at Yankee Stadium in ’08, but the decision to change from outs to timed rounds beginning with the ’15 derby added new life to the exhibition.