The Australian Ebden was overwhelmed by Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Olympic tournament in Paris 2024. The match lasted just 54 minutes, ending 6-0 6-1. During the match, an exasperated Ebden, with great humor, asked a spectator to play in his place.
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Matthew Ebden is one of the strongest doubles players in the world, and went to the Paris Olympics to try and win a medal in the doubles tournament. He probably never thought he would play in the singles tournament, but a series of withdrawals led him to the main draw, and luck was not on his side. Ebden drew Djokovic, who overwhelmed him. At the start of the second set, exasperated, the Australian took his racket and asked the spectators if anyone wanted to take his place.
Ebden returns to play singles after two years, and does so against Djokovic
The Olympic tennis tournament has some particular rules. Once Andy Murray withdrew, the organizers had to find a substitute, and Ebden was promoted, who hasn’t really played singles in nearly two years (the last match was in Winston-Salem in the summer of 2022). When you consider this and the fact that he is now 37 years old, it is understandable that almost all the players in the draw would have preferred anyone else; instead, he ended up facing Djokovic, who has won everything in his career except the Olympic gold. He wants it, he believes in it, his draw is not simple, but it’s not impossible either, and he arrived in Paris highly motivated.
Ebden celebrates his only game won
Ebden realized he was swept away in the first set, not even a game: 6-0. The second set followed the same routine. At 6-0 2-0, eight games won out of eight in 40 minutes, Ebden was exasperated, but without losing his smile, he walked over to his bench and especially looked towards the spectators, who were frankly rather passive, and offered his racket to one of them, seemingly saying: “You play in my place.”.
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Djokovic wins in just 54 minutes
The match continued, 3-0 and 4-0. Double break, then Ebden wins a game and celebrates as if he had won a Slam in doubles, 4-1. The Australian almost seems to thank the former world number 1, who perhaps really did not exert himself too much in that fifth game. Then things got serious.
Novak prevailed with a score of 6-0 6-1, in just 54 minutes. Less than a practice session. Task completed for the number 1 seed, and also for Ebden, who will do everything possible to forget what happened and will try to redeem himself by playing in the doubles tournament.