Drinking BSB Brown Sugar Bourbon With Tennis Pro Christopher Eubanks

02.09.2023 - 19:57 / forbes.com

After playing three years with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and establishing himself as one of the nation’s best college tennis players, Christopher Eubanks turned pro in 2017 and recently won his first ATP title at the 2023 Mallorca Championships. Before he began competing in the 2023 US Open, I met with Eubanks at Parker’s at Thompson Central Park — a craft cocktail bar in the lobby atrium redesigned by Thomas Juul-Hansen and named after Jazz legend Charlie Parker — where we discussed his warm-up music, playing Pickleball with Jamie Foxx and the power the crowd can have during a tennis match.

Do you have any pre-game rituals or music that gets you ready for a match?

Just music typically — I'm not too superstitious. It changes with how I'm feeling on the day. There’s been a lot of Drake these past few months. ‘Jimmy Cooks’ has been a good one. J. Cole and Bas have a song ‘Hunger on Hillside’ which is a very good song. I try to keep a few Atlanta artists in rotation. I love old OutKast and T.I. and Jeezy and stuff like that.

Is there a cut-off point before a tournament where you’ll have your last glass of wine or cocktail?

Not particularly. I'm pretty good about measuring myself timing-wise to make sure that things don't go too far too close to a match. Very rarely I may do a glass of wine on an off day in a tournament but it doesn't go past one drink if I do.

What are your favorite drinks?

Bourbons are typically my favorites. Red wine —typically I lean more towards Cabs. Or a nice Tequila. It’s usually one of those three.

Which is your favorite Bourbon?

Brown Sugar Bourbon, which was started by Jamie Foxx who is a good friend of mine. That kind of sparked my interest in Bourbon just being around him. Because of the success of one of his songs ‘Blame it on the Alcohol’ he wanted to find the perfect one to put his name to and BSB was that. That’s always been the one I’m drawn to.

How did you two become friends?

One of his friends, Alex Avant, is a massive tennis fan. We got in contact some years ago and we hit it off really well. And he said “anytime you're in L.A. I’d love to connect you with Foxx, he’s a massive tennis fan.” Sure enough, I go out to L.A. a few weeks later and he organizes for us to meet. We go play tennis and then the friendship was formed from that.

When you’re playing tennis with a superstar do you have to ease up a bit to keep the friendship going?

(Laughs) Actually, no. He's a pretty competitive guy. We went out on the court and I served full on. We actually bonded a little bit over Pickleball — where the playing field is a little more even. We always have a good time.

As a pro tennis player do you enjoy Pickleball?

I enjoy playing and Jamie is the reason I