How one moment led to Ethan Quinn’s explosion
Quinn and coach Brian Garber provide exclusive insight
January 21, 2026
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Ethan Quinn defeated Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets in the first round of the Australian Open.
Written by Andrew Eichenholz
One minute can change everything.
That was the case for Ethan Quinn last January at the ATP Challenger event in Cleveland. Despite starting the year by making the final as a qualifier in Canberra, the American failed to qualify for the Australian Open and lost in the first round in Cleveland.
“I lost in Cleveland and I hadn’t even been to Dallas. So I might have checked out a little bit. I might have been like, ‘Oh, woe to me,'” Quinn told ATPTour.com. “I wasn’t going to sit there in Cleveland and not do the right things. Then I get to Dallas maybe I’m not ready to play Dallas and I lose.”
For Americans, that would have wasted two weeks. But instead he reflected on his loss and realized he played a “pretty good game” and wasn’t just the better player on the day against Colton Smith.
“I had people around me the next day. I was on top of my workouts in the gym, I was on the court for a few hours that day with Brian, working on things that I could improve on,” Quinn said. “I was able to make the most of it going into the Dallas playoffs and then I went in and won my first round game and from there, I just exploded.”
Entering last year’s ATP 500 event in Dallas, Quinn was ranked No. 199 in the PIF ATP Rankings. In June, he entered the Top 100 for the first time.
Not that he was down or anything like that. Quinn simply had two roads to Cleveland and chose the path of direction and hard work, which led to success.
“It was just, after a loss like that, I was able to find a way to make sure I was better that week and then come the next week better,” Quinn said. “Instead of losing and having an excuse or a reason to be complacent. I think that trusting my team and holding me accountable to keep getting better, that was the difference from then on throughout the year.”
Quinn’s coach, Brian Garber, used the loss as an opportunity. The former college tennis player at the University of Georgia then qualified for Dallas and won a round at the major tournament.
“I think managing success is harder than managing failure. He had a great start in Canberra, but after that loss to Cleveland, I told him we’re not going to change a single thing we’ve been doing,” Garber said. “We changed our mind to escape [focusing on the] results. Our goal that I text him every night before games is, ‘Get closer to the version of EQ you want to be tomorrow’.
“That’s not a results-based goal. And we took that down a lot last year and it started there.”
While Quinn got up quickly, that didn’t mean she was always happy with her results. Starting in Mallorca in June, he lost in the second round of five consecutive tournaments.
“I was frustrated that I kept losing, qualifying for the event and winning the first round and losing in the second round or losing to the same players multiple times throughout the year,” Quinn said. “I really wouldn’t say it was a breakdown, but I was really frustrated that I felt like I was stuck in the same place, I kept losing in the same place.”
“He thought he might not get past the second round and one of the reasons was part of his growth,” Garber said. “During the Masters season he was winning good matches in the first round and playing very good players in the next round. [It was about] really competing for points, so that when he gets to the second round he will be strong.
“I also reminded him that his path in Challengers and Futures is the same, he started by winning one or two rounds, then he fell. The next time he started to win those or in the finals. Nothing changes now, it just happens at a high level.”
That was evident in the first round of the Australian Open against Tallon Griekspoor, who plays 23rd. The Dutchman won their first two Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings last year, but Quinn returned the favor with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory in Melbourne to earn a second-round showdown with Hubert Hurkacz.
“So far in this situation today, against a tough player, against a player who has had my number in the past,” Quinn said. “To be able to get through that game is really refreshing.”
