Matt Ebden couldn’t stop smiling as he celebrated his personal victory against Novak Djokovic in the Olympic tennis competition at Roland Garros.
The experienced Australian may argue that he really won a game in his historic mismatch with the greatest player of all time.
For the majority of the day beneath the dome on Court Phillippe Chatrier, Perth’s 36-year-old doubles specialist, playing his first tour-level singles match in two years, was in severe danger of receiving a ‘double-bagel’ disgrace.
Ebden, who was just pulled into the competition as a last-minute substitute, knew it was’mission impossible’ to beat the 24-time grand slam winner, but professional pride dictated that he battle to escape the ultimate tennis dishonor.
As he struggled from 6-0 to 4-0 down, the entire audience cheered him on to break his duck, and Ebden eventually held serve, burst into a big smile, extended his arms out wide, and pulled his yellow Australia jersey over his head to celebrate.
The relief did not last long, as Djokovic, playing in his first match since suffering a knee injury that necessitated surgery at the French Open, stormed to a 6-0 6-1 victory in only 53 minutes.
The duo embraced warmly at the finish, with Ebden, who has a chance to win two doubles gold, receiving compassion from the Serb.
“I’m sorry for Matt, he told me at the net it was his first match for two years and he’s officially retired from his singles career,” said Djokovic.
“Obviously, he’s focussed on doubles so it was tough for him.”
While he could chuckle about his lesson from the top seed, and even offered his racquet to anyone in the crowd who wanted to help him out, Ebden was genuinely happy to have been able to play Djokovic for the first time on the famous Roland Garros centre court, which he had never seen.
For Djokovic, it was the ideal soft warm-up for a potential second-round drama against Rafael Nadal, who must first defeat Marton Fucsovics in the first round.
“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding that match,” Djokovic said, smiling.
“I’ve done my part of the job; he needs to win his first round tomorrow.” It may be a blockbuster, one of the events people are looking forward to at the Olympics, and I’m looking forward to what could be our final dance, so to speak, on this court.”
The weather disrupted the opening day’s schedule, as it had done during the French Open two months prior, with no play on the outdoor courts early on.
Carlos Alcaraz, Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion, won 6-3, 6-1 over Lebanon’s Hady Habib on the covered Court Suzanne Lenglen, while French Open winner Iga Swiatek defeated Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2, 7-5 on Chatrier.
