Olympic tennis star Matthew Ebden begged a fan to replace him during his brutal first-round singles defeat to Novak Djokovic at Paris 2024 on Saturday.
The Australian simply could not handle Djokovic as the Serbian conjured up a brutal 6-0 bagel and then raced into a 2-0 second-set lead with an early break inside just 30 minutes at Roland-Garros, usually home to the iconic French Open.
After losing his eighth game of the match in a row, Ebden turned around and offered his racket to anyone in the crowd who would be willing to step in for him.
It came after Ebden controversially attempted an underarm serve – seen as unsportsmanlike and frowned upon in tennis – as he still lost the point to Djokovic, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion eventually winning 6-0 6-1.
Speaking on the court after his dominant victory, Djokovic, who is projected to next face Big Three rival Rafael Nadal in an absolute blockbuster, turned to Ebden and simply said: ‘Sorry man!’
Ebden threw his shirt over his head in an ironic celebration when he finally won his first game of the match late into the second set.
The Aussie is not best known for his skills in singles tennis but he is one of the best doubles players in the entire sport, currently ranked world No.3.
‘Safe to say l’m officially retired from singles after that!’ Ebden said. ‘It was a pleasure to share the court with you Novak for one last singles match on Philippe Chatrier here at the Olympics.
‘All the best for the rest of the tournament (and if it’s not one of our Aussies) I hope you get the [gold medal].’
Ebden has won three Grand Slam titles – two in men’s doubles and the other in mixed doubles – with his most recent triumph at the Australian Open this year.
But he didn’t have enough to test Djokovic, who is desperate to land a gold medal for Serbia, in what is highly likely to be the last Games of his incredible career.
‘Of course, the Olympics are a huge desire of mine, Djokovic said. ‘It’s a unique opportunity, I have a bronze from Beijing 2008.’
Meanwhile, Djokovic has fired a message to the trolls who’d ‘love’ him to enter retirement after the Olympic tennis tournament at Paris 2024.
Novak Djokovic’s path to the gold medal match
Novak Djokovic’s possible path to landing a singles medal at the Paris Olympics:
- Round 1 – Ebden
- Round 2 – Nadal
- Round 3 – Fils
- Quarter-final – Tsitsipas / Baez
- Semi-final – Zverev / Musetti / Fritz
- Final – Alcaraz / Medvedev / Ruud
‘I don’t have retirement close in my mind, to be honest,’ Djokovic, 37, added. ‘Even though I know a lot of people would love me to retire so this era is done.
‘But I think as long as there’s at least one of us left competing, the era is still going.
‘Of course there’s a change of generations. You have Alcaraz and [Jannik] Sinner, currently they’re our two best players in the world, deservedly… But I’ve been present for the shift of many generations in the last 15 years.’
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