Chris Eaton (tennis)

Chris Eaton
Country (sports)	Great Britain
Residence	East Horsley Surrey, England, UK
Born	27 November 1987 (age 36); Guildford, Surrey, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Turned pro	2007
Retired	2012
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$169,080
Singles
Career record	2–2 (in ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draws, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 317 (15 June 2009)
Grand Slam singles results
Wimbledon	2R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	3–5 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draws, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 147 (2 May 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	Euro/Africa Zone Group I 1R (2009)
	Last updated on: 17 June 2021.

Last updated October 31, 2024

Christopher Philip Eaton (born 27 November 1987) is a British retired tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 317 in June 2009, and his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 147 in May 2011. Eaton is currently the assistant coach at Wake Forest University.

In February 2009, Eaton played what was then the longest tennis match in history, lasting 6 hours and 40 minutes, eventually beating James Ward 21–19 in the fifth set. This was a playoff match to decide the Davis Cup team, but it was not sanctioned by the ATP, so was not an official record, and it was later broken.^[2]

Early and personal life

He learned to play tennis at Reed's School.^[3] He was nicknamed the "Eaton Rifle" due to his big serve.^[4]

From age 8 to 16, he was coached by Justin Sherring.

Junior career

Eaton reached a career high of No. 97 in April 2005 at age 17. In his only singles main draw junior grand slam match, and his final match as a junior, he lost to Donald Young at Wimbledon in 2005, 1–6, 5–7.^[5]

Senior career

2007

Eaton's best results in 2007 were two Futures championships in doubles in Israel and Great Britain, and a singles semifinal appearance in Israel F4 in November, where he beat No. 839 Amir Hadad. He finished 2007 ranked No. 656 in singles play.

2008

Eaton made little singles progress in the first 4 months of the year. However, he had much success in doubles, making the doubles finals of 5 Futures and winning two of them.

In June, he had a breakthrough singles win in the 2nd round of qualifying at Nottingham, beating his first top-100 opponent, No. 90 Guillermo García López, before losing to No. 111 Vince Spadea in the final qualifying round. He followed that up the next week as a wild card by qualifying in singles for the Wimbledon Championships, beating No. 140 Mikhail Kukushkin, No. 206 Jan Minář, and No. 162 Olivier Patience, scoring 32 aces in that match. He was also given a wild card into the main doubles draw with Alexander Slabinsky.

In the Wimbledon Championships first round he beat Serbia's Boris Pasanski 6–3 7–6(8–6) 6–4.^[6] He then faced Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, the number 25 seed in the second round on Court One, his first show-court appearance. However, he could not continue his winning streak and Eaton lost 6–7(2), 2–6, 4–6.^[7] As a result of his performance at Wimbledon, Eaton's ranking rose to a career high of 386. This made him eligible for Challenger events.

2009

Having played little more than a few Futures at the start of the year, Eaton was thrust into play-offs, between six British tennis hopefuls, designed by John Lloyd to help pick the two singles players to represent Great Britain in the Euro/Africa Zone Group I tie against Ukraine.

Eaton started well, defeating Alexander Slabinsky 6–4 6–4 2–6 7–6 (7–5). He then beat James Ward 6–3 6–2 6–7 (3–7) 2–6 21–19 in a gruelling match lasting six hours and 40 minutes,^[2] making it the longest match in history prior to the epic Isner-Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Lloyd had decided he had seen enough, and chose Eaton and Joshua Goodall as the two players to represent Britain alongside Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins.

Eaton lost his first Davis Cup match 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 to Ukrainian number 1 Sergiy Stakhovsky but managed to restore some pride to Team GB, who were on the verge of a whitewash before Eaton managed to beat Illya Marchenko 6–3, 4–6, 7–6 in the remaining dead rubber. Despite putting in one of the better performances by British players other than Andy Murray in the Davis Cup recently, Eaton didn't appear in the plans of captain John Lloyd for forthcoming fixtures.

2010

At Wimbledon Eaton and doubles partner Dominic Inglot defeated the defending champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in the second round,^[8] to achieve his best Slam result with a third round appearance.

Eaton began playing touchtennis as a pastime against other former professional tennis players as well as current park players and rank amateurs. He has won one title and hosted a weekly tennis phone in show on the sports website.^[9]

Eaton played his last match in the 2012 Wimbledon qualifying second round. He joined the Wake Forest men's tennis staff as an assistant coach in the 2016–17 season.

He coaches doubles player Henri Kontinen.^[10]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (3–1)

Legend
ATP Challenger (0–0)
ITF Futures (3–1)

Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jan 2010	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Jamie Baker	6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Jan 2011	Germany F3, Kaarst	Futures	Carpet	Jan Mertl	5–7, 4–6
Win	2–1	Apr 2011	Switzerland F3, Taverne	Futures	Carpet	Peter Torebko	6–3, 6–4
Win	3–1	Jul 2011	Great Britain F11, Chiswick	Futures	Hard	Benjamin Mitchell	7–5, 6–1

Doubles: 38 (23–15)

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–1)
ITF Futures (22–14)

Finals by surface
Hard (23–10)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (2–3)
Carpet (1–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Mar 2006	China F4, Jiangmen	Futures	Hard	Andrew Kennaugh	Yu Xinyuan Zeng Shaoxuan	4–6, 5–7
Loss	0–2	Jun 2006	Turkey F2, Istanbul	Futures	Hard	Andrew Kennaugh	Victor Kolik Ishay Hadash	3–6, 5–7
Win	1–2	Mar 2007	Israel F2, Ramat HaSharon	Futures	Hard	Amit Inbar	Roman Vögeli Alexander Satschko	7–5, 6–2
Win	2–2	Aug 2007	Great Britain F14, Wrexham	Futures	Hard	Pierrick Ysern	Edward Corrie Tom Rushby	6–1, 6–2
Loss	2–3	Jan 2008	Great Britain F2, Sheffield	Futures	Hard	Ken Skupski	Jiří Krkoška Purav Raja	6–7^(7–9), 6–7^(4–7)
Win	3–3	Feb 2008	Croatia F1, Zagreb	Futures	Hard	Mait Künnap	Pierre-Ludovic Duclos Denis Matsukevich	2–6, 7–5, [10–8]
Win	4–3	Mar 2008	Portugal F5, Lagos	Futures	Hard	Carsten Ball	Neil Bamford Josh Goodall	6–2, 6–4
Loss	4–4	Mar 2008	Portugal F6, Albufeira	Futures	Hard	Amir Weintraub	Neil Bamford Josh Goodall	3–6, 4–6
Loss	4–5	Apr 2008	Russia F1, Moscow	Futures	Carpet	Alexander Slabinsky	Sergei Demekhine Konstantin Kravchuk	1–6, 2–6
Loss	4–6	Sep 2008	France F13, Bagnères-de-Bigorre	Futures	Hard	Pierrick Ysern	Olivier Charroin Andis Juška	5–7, 4–6
Win	5–6	Jan 2009	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Jamie Baker	Romain Jouan Pierrick Ysern	7–5, 6–0
Win	6–6	Aug 2009	Great Britain F10, Ilkley	Futures	Grass	Martin Fischer	Sadik Kadir Purav Raja	7–5, 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	6–7	Aug 2009	Great Britain F11, Ottershaw	Futures	Hard	Jamie Baker	Dominic Inglot Tim Bradshaw	6–4, 6–7^(2–7), [3–10]
Loss	6–8	Aug 2009	India F7, New Delhi	Futures	Hard	Sean Thornley	Ashutosh Singh Vishnu Vardhan	3–6, 7–6^(7–5), [8–10]
Win	7–8	Sep 2009	India F9, New Delhi	Futures	Hard	Rohan Gajjar	Ashutosh Singh Vishnu Vardhan	7–6^(8–6), 7–6^(7–3)
Win	8–8	Sep 2009	Great Britain F13, Wrexham	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Andrew Anderson Colin O'Brien	3–6, 6–3, [10–6]
Win	9–8	Sep 2009	Great Britain F14, Nottingham	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Josh Goodall Matthew Illingworth	6–3, 6–4
Win	10–8	Oct 2009	Great Britain F15, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Daniel Cox Uladzimir Ignatik	6–0, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	11–8	Jan 2010	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Olivier Charroin Alexandre Renard	4–6, 6–3, [10–2]
Loss	11–9	Jan 2010	Great Britain F2, Sheffield	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Olivier Charroin Andis Juška	2–6, 4–6
Win	12–9	Feb 2010	Bosnia & Herzegovina F2, Sarajevo	Futures	Carpet	Dominic Inglot	Colin O'Brien James McGee	walkover
Loss	12–10	Jul 2010	Great Britain F10, Frinton	Futures	Grass	Josh Goodall	Tim Bradshaw James Ludlow	4–6, 7–6^(9–7), [7–10]
Win	13–10	Jan 2011	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Alexander Slabinsky	Harri Heliövaara Juho Paukku	6–7^(3–7), 6–1, [10–2]
Win	14–10	Jan 2011	Great Britain F2, Sheffield	Futures	Hard	Josh Goodall	Olivier Charroin Vincent Stouff	6–1, 6–4
Loss	14–11	Jan 2011	Germany F3, Kaarst	Futures	Carpet	Alexander Slabinsky	Marcel Zimmermann Kevin Krawietz	3–6, 5–7
Win	15–11	Mar 2011	Great Britain F3, Tipton	Futures	Hard	Josh Goodall	Miles Bugby Marcus Willis	6–2, 6–2
Win	16–11	Mar 2011	Great Britain F4, Bath	Futures	Hard	Josh Goodall	Michael Lammer Alexander Sadecky	6–3, 6–2
Loss	16–12	May 2011	Leon, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Andre Begemann	Rajeev Ram Bobby Reynolds	3–6, 2–6
Win	17–12	Jul 2011	Great Britain F8, Manchester	Futures	Grass	Josh Goodall	Malek Jaziri Albano Olivetti	6–4, 7–6^(7–3)
Loss	17–13	Jul 2011	Great Britain F9, Ilkley	Futures	Grass	Josh Goodall	Sean Thornley David Rice	7–6^(7–2), 3–6, [7–10]
Loss	17–14	Jul 2011	Great Britain F10, Frinton	Futures	Grass	Josh Goodall	Julien Maes Fabrice Martin	5–7, 6–7^(2–7)
Win	18–14	Sep 2011	USA F24, Costa Mesa	Futures	Hard	Neal Skupski	Daniel Cox Adam Hubble	6–3, 6–3
Win	19–14	Oct 2011	USA F26, Austin	Futures	Hard	Edward Corrie	Benjamin Rogers John-Patrick Smith	7–6^(8–6), 6–2
Win	20–14	Jan 2012	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Sean Thornley David Rice	7–5, 6–2
Win	21–14	Jan 2012	Great Britain F2, Sheffield	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Sean Thornley David Rice	6–3, 7–5
Loss	21–15	Jan 2012	Great Britain F3, Birkenhead	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Sean Thornley David Rice	2–6, 3–6
Win	22–15	Feb 2012	Dallas, United States	Challenger	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Nicholas Monroe Jack Sock	6–7^(6–8), 6–4, [19–17]
Win	23–15	Mar 2012	Great Britain F4, Tipton	Futures	Hard	Dominic Inglot	Sean Thornley David Rice	6–3, 6–4

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References

↑ ITF Men's profile
1 2 "Chris Eaton shows stamina with epic Davis Cup play-off win". Telegraph. 25 February 2009.
↑ Slot, Owen (26 June 2008). "Chris Eaton's school of hard knocks pays off". The Times. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
↑ "Eaton devoured by steely Tursunov as ace 'rifle' misfires". Belfast Telegraph. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
↑ ITF Junior Activity for Eaton, itftennis.com; accessed 11 July 2016.
↑ "Chris Eaton in stunning Wimbledon win against Boris Pasanski". Times. 25 June 2008.
↑ "Eaton undone by classy Tursunov". BBC Sport. 26 June 2008.
↑ "Wimbledon 2010: Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot triuimph". BBC Sport. 26 June 2010.
↑ Profile, touchtennis.com; accessed 11 July 2016.
↑ Jones, Chris (16 July 2017). "Jamie Murray and Heather Watson cross swords in mixed doubles final". The Times. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

External links

Chris Eaton at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Chris Eaton at the International Tennis Federation
Chris Eaton at the Davis Cup

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[1] ITF Men's profile

[Longest_tennis_match-2] 1 2 "Chris Eaton shows stamina with epic Davis Cup play-off win". Telegraph. 25 February 2009.

[3] Slot, Owen (26 June 2008). "Chris Eaton's school of hard knocks pays off". The Times. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

[4] "Eaton devoured by steely Tursunov as ace 'rifle' misfires". Belfast Telegraph. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

[5] ITF Junior Activity for Eaton, itftennis.com; accessed 11 July 2016.

[6] "Chris Eaton in stunning Wimbledon win against Boris Pasanski". Times. 25 June 2008.

[7] "Eaton undone by classy Tursunov". BBC Sport. 26 June 2008.

[8] "Wimbledon 2010: Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot triuimph". BBC Sport. 26 June 2010.

[9] Profile, touchtennis.com; accessed 11 July 2016.

[10] Jones, Chris (16 July 2017). "Jamie Murray and Heather Watson cross swords in mixed doubles final". The Times. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

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