Novak Djokovic sailed past Matthew Ebden in the first round of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Australian, who specializes in doubles, was included in the draw due to a specific Olympic tennis rule. Fans were disappointed with the rule, as Ebden was crushed by the top seed.
Matthew Ebden had not played a professional singles match in two years. Although he is ranked World No. 3 in doubles, he does not hold a singles ranking. However, due to Olympic rules, which state that alternates for the singles event are chosen from the players already present in the contingents, Ebden made his way into the singles draw.
The withdrawals of several singles players at the last moment, including Denmark’s Holger Rune and Great Britain’s Andy Murray, led to Ebden being added to the draw, where he faced top-seed Novak Djokovic.
The Serb crushed Ebden 6-0, 6-1, making it clear that the Aussie lacked singles practice. Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the rule that led to such an uneven matchup. “The Olympics have dumb rules, replace a singles player with a singles player,” one fan wrote.
“Ebden with first singles match in 2 years. Novak shading Olympic tennis rules so right,” another fan said.
“Olympics tennis rules are a joke. A player who hasn’t played singles in 2 years,” a third fan said.
Here are some more fan reactions to Djokovic’s 53-minute win over Ebden.
“No shade to Ebden but do they really expect ppl to take Olympic tennis seriously when arbitrary rules create unsporting situations like this,” one fan said.
“Ebden is a great guy but it’s wild that the Olympics has a rule that tennis replacements must be a guy already onsite so now we got a unranked doubles player who hasn’t played a singles games since 2022 against Djokovic lol,” another fan said.
“Ideally Ebden shouldn’t be playing singles. What an embarrassment,” one fan said.
Oh my goodness.
Novak Djokovic won the first set 6-0.
What a start to his Olympics campaign. pic.twitter.com/5AcAqpvN7S
— Danny (@DjokovicFan_) July 27, 2024
Novak Djokovic’s potential opponents in the Paris Olympics 2024 2R
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic advanced into the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics following his win over Australia’s Matthew Ebden. In the second round, the World No. 2 will face the winner of the clash between Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.
The potential second-round clash between Djokovic and Nadal is enticing as it will be the 60th time they go face-to-face. The Serb currently leads the head-to-head record 30-29.
However, in case the Hungarian spoils the party and defeats Nadal, he will set up a sixth clash against the Serb. Novak Djokovic leads the head-to-head record against Fucsovics 5-0