Wimbledon's depth of startling talent

The depth of the field and diverse talent at Wimbledon leads to an addictive unpredictability, akin to being at a casino

- Rahul Jacob

In the months after the pandemic ended, the American Christopher Eubanks contemplated a change in career. His ranking in men’s singles had fallen to the mid-200s. The 6’7” African American with a huge serve started doing commentary on Tennis Channel. In a twist of fate, the task of match analysis helped him iron out the kinks in his game. He won the grass court warm-up in Mallorca the week before Wimbledon to push his ranking to the low 40s. As Wimbledon entered the quarterfinals stage, the once little-known but instantly popular Eubanks led the tally of having struck the most winners (247) in the tournament. More consequentially, he had knocked out two seeds, home favourite Cameron Norrie, seeded 12th, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fifth seed to reach the last eight.

Roman Safiullin’s path to the quarters was much less dramatic but he beat Denis Shapopolov, the Canadian known for a game that is recklessly spectacular. Among the many remarkable numbers generated at tennis tournaments these days, alongside Eubank’s winner tally and a staggering 22% of all his serves being unreturnable, the one associated with Safiullin was simple enough. It was 92, the ranking the unheralded Russian had at the start of the tournament.