By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS (Reuters) – Australia’s Matthew Ebden went from suffering the heaviest defeat in the first round of the men’s singles at the Olympics tennis tournament, winning only one game against top seed Novak Djokovic, to booking a gold medal in the doubles on Saturday.
Ebden and his doubles partner John Peers downed United States pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7(6) 7-6(1) 10-8 in the Paris doubles final.
Three-times Grand Slam doubles champion Ebden had been called in at the last minute to play in the first round of the singles to replace Britain’s Andy Murray, who wanted to focus on doubles in his last tournament.
Djokovic thrashed the 36-year-old Austalian 6-1 6-0 in 53 minutes. The difference in level was so brutal that after losing the first set the Australian asked a fan to replace him on the court.
“It was a nice little miracle that happened to say goodbye to my singles career,” Ebden said on Saturday after his final.
Ebden and Peers’ gold medal is only Australia’s second Olympic tennis title after Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won in Atlanta in 1996.
“I’m super happy to get the reward because you don’t always get the reward for your hard work, but when you do it’s pretty sweet,” Ebden said.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Ken Ferris)
