Ebden gallant in defeat by Djokovic

Australia’s Matt Ebden has officially retired from singles. The 36-year-old played his last singles match of his career on Phillippe Chatrier, one of the biggest courts in the world and against world number two and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. 

In his first singles match in nearly two years, the now doubles specialist was defeated by Djokovic 6-0 6-1 in just under an hour.   

It was only on Thursday when Ebden discovered he had fallen into the singles draw as an alternate after Holger Rune (DEN) withdrew from the competition.

“I wasn’t coming here to play singles put it that way. It has been two years since my last professional singles match. This is officially me retired from singles,” said Ebden, the former world No 39 after the match.

“What a place to do it, on Chatrier against Novak. I was lucky in my singles career, I played against Federer, Nadal, Murray and played on all the big centre courts around the world. 

“I’ve never played Chatrier and never played Novak but some miracle happened and I got the chance to play him on Chatrier. It was the perfect way to retire my singles officially.

"The only goal out there was not to get injured. I was never going to win, it was nice to hit a few balls out there. I got one game at least and I said to Novak I was sorry I couldn't give him more of a hit."

Ebden’s wife Kim and 2-year-old son Harvey were courtside to watch the match unfold. 

The world number three doubles player will now turn his attention to the Men’s Doubles alongside three-time Olympian John Peers and the mixed doubles competition with Ellen Perez. 

Medvedev too strong for Hijikata

World number five Daniil Medvedev (AIN) was too strong on clay for Rinky Hijikata on Saturday afternoon, defeating the 23-year-old, 6-2 6-1, in only their second encounter.  

Hijikata said he was disappointed with the way the match unfolded.

“I’m pretty disappointed. I would have liked to play a little bit better. I don’t think I played close to my best today,” said Hijikata post match. 

“Credit to him for making me feel pretty bad out there. He is very good at making you feel uncomfortable, that’s why he is one of the best players in the world. He didn’t make it easy today.

“I just felt like I was struggling to hold serve, I probably didn’t serve well enough to put him under any sort of pressure. I had a bad start to both sets, and just overall I didn’t play a great match.”

Hijikata was more buoyant about his first Olympic experience.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been really cool to be in the village, surrounded by the best athletes in Australia,” he said.

“Just being around some of the iconic athletes in Australia, to watch them and see how everyone is supporting one another has been really cool. It’s not like any of the other tennis tournaments, that's for sure.”

Perez and Saville fall to US doubles pair 

Australian doubles pair Ellen Perez and Daria Saville have fallen in the first round of the Women’s Doubles to top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula (USA). 

With rain playing havoc with scheduling, the Aussie pair’s match was moved from Court 14 to Suzanne Lenglen late this afternoon.

They fell 6-3 6-1 to the Americans.

“I think it wasn’t the easiest first match to start out with. I think Dash and I had some really good practice. We were feeling good but coming against a very tricky team, who serve really big, they take the racquet out of your hands, they make a lot of returns,” Perez said.

“I don’t know that we were as clear on the plan as we wanted to be. We definitely prepared for them to play the other way and at times we were just flustered with what to do and they came up with some big shots and some big plays at times. 

“I think maybe a little bit easier draw, a team where we could have found a way to get into the match would have been a little bit easier. But that’s tennis, you’ve got to be able to win it from the start and I think they did a very good job at that. 

“I felt like we were right there with them at the very start, it just slipped away. A few unlucky points, a few really good points by them, and that’s doubles, one point in it changes everything.”

Saville reflected on her Olympic journey here in Paris.

“It’s such an honour, being around so many great athletes and being able to chat to some of our idols is pretty, pretty amazing. 

“We’re not happy with the result today, for me, I really wanted to prioritise doubles, we practiced doubles. Like Ellen said, it was a really tough first round, and they are definitely the top team in contention for a medal.”

Perez will partner Matt Ebden in the mixed doubles competition when it begins. 

Harriet Rendle