Matt Ebden and John Peers celebrate Olympic gold. Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images
Seven days later, Ebden was back standing on that same court. But this time, there was a grin from ear to ear, as he proudly showed off his Olympic gold medal. He and close friend John Peers, another journeyman of the ATP circuit, guiding Australia to victory in the men's doubles: the first gold medal in tennis for the nation since 'The Woodies', Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, reigned supreme in Atlanta, 28 years ago.
"To win a gold medal, I think it's like folklore. It's beyond me," Ebden said after the final. "Winning Slams, winning Wimbledon ... we've been into the Davis Cup finals the last couple of years ... but I mean, the Olympics? Gold? Really? It only comes around once every four years and even just to play it is ridiculous. Some miracle work has happened and somehow we've now got a gold medal."
The unseeded Ebden and Peers came from a set down to beat fancied American duo Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-1) (10-8) in a tight, gripping final that ebbed and flowed throughout and had drama until the last point.
The Australian pair showed their resiliency all match. In the first set, they came from a break of serve down to force a tiebreak. They then dug themselves out of a 1-4 hole in that breaker to level at 4-4, only for the Americans to kick away again and pocket the set. It was a similar story in the second, going down an early break and then almost immediately rebounding to level up the set.
Matt Ebden and John Peers celebrate gold for Australia in the men's doubles. PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images
The Djokovic beatdown on opening day in Paris proved to be not much of a confidence killer for Ebden. After all, he's a doubles player, not a singles player. And they may as well be different sports, as evidenced by the two teams that reached Saturday's decider and the many star-studded line-ups made up of predominantly singles players that perished along the way. And in a weird sense of irony, Ebden now owns something Djokovic does not: Olympic gold. That is, at least for 24 hours. Djokovic will battle familiar foe Carlos Alcaraz for the men's singles title on Sunday evening.
