Matt Ebden and John Friends reveal it’s “greater than a dream” so as to add to Australia’s gold medal depend on the Paris Olympics.
Paris, France, 4 August 2024 | Vivienne Christie
Amid the joyful celebrations that accompanied Matt Ebden and John Friends’ proudest profession moments on the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games, consideration for the Australian males rapidly turned to their households.
Ebden’s spouse, Kim, and two-year-old son, Harvey, had been courtside because the pair proudly added to Australia’s gold-medal tally in Paris. Friends was supported by his spouse Danielle and daughters Ellie and Harper.
“They’re going to be speaking about this till we’re 100,” Friends smiled.
And what a narrative they’ll have from that big day at Roland Garros.
Ebden and Friends trailed by a set and a break of serve towards People Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram earlier than storming again to change into the second Australian duo to win an Olympic gold medal in tennis.
It got here 28 years after Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde had mixed to win gold at Atlanta 2004.
You retain us all on the sting of our seats @mattebden @johnwpeers.
A thriller befitting for GOLD!!
Overjoyed for you guys.
@iocmedia @ITFTennis @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/nv7OD3owrk— Mark Woodforde (@MarkWoodforde) August 3, 2024
“It’s a blur. We’ve been misplaced for phrases … it was a brilliant powerful match, clearly, and I believe a extremely top quality match,” mentioned Ebden of the pair’s 6-7(6) 7-6(1) [10-8] comeback win over the No.4 seeds.
“We had been up towards it … we had been shedding for positive. However, , we saved believing, saved preventing, saved hanging sturdy.”
Victory for the unseeded Australians, each 36 years previous, adopted a straight-sets win over third-seeded American pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul within the semifinals.
Krajicek and Ram, who’ve every held the world No.1 rating in recent times, defeated high-profile Spanish pair Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal within the quarterfinals.
“It’s trippy. It’s greater than a dream,” mentioned Ebden, who has lifted doubles trophies at Wimbledon (with Max Purcell in 2022) and the Australian Open (with India’s Rohan Bopanna in 2024) and claimed gold on his Olympic debut in Paris.
“I didn’t even dream of successful a gold medal rising up or no matter, however clearly the previous couple of years [I’ve] had nice success on the doubles courtroom and [that] give me a variety of perception and confidence.”
Friends, additionally a two-time Grand Slam champion after successful Australian Open 2017 with Henri Kontinen and US Open 2022 combined doubles title with Storm Sanders, added to an Olympics profession that noticed him declare bronze in combined doubles alongside Ash Barty at Tokyo 2020.
“To win a gold medal … I believe it’s like folklore,” mentioned Friends, who was additionally part of Australia’s Olympic tennis workforce at Rio in 2016 .
“For me to have the ability to try this and say that we’re gold medallists, I imply, doing it for the inexperienced and gold in Australia and the folks again residence, that’s what we play the game for.”
The latest Olympic tennis champions are delighted to be talked about alongside their gold medal-winning predecessors, Woodbridge and Woodforde.
“It’s an absolute honour anytime I get talked about in the identical breath as these two, they paved the way in which for us,” mentioned Friends. “They’ve all the time been there for us.”
Ebden and Friends had been equally thrilled so as to add to the broader workforce spirit in Paris, the place Australia has claimed at the least one gold medal on every day to date of the 2024 Video games.
“Everybody’s all the time watching one another, all the time supporting one another. Somebody comes again to the village with a medal, everybody’s there cheering as quickly as they’re there,” mentioned Friends.
“It’s a extremely tight-knit group and I do know Australia’s had an unbelievable historical past within the Olympics and in sport as a complete. We’re a proud sporting nation.”
Having absorbed their very own Olympic spirit whereas watching different Australians compete all through their respective childhoods, Ebden and Friends are particularly proud to have set such a profitable instance to their households.
As Friends famous of the most important lesson he hoped that seven-year-old Ellie would take away from her courtside expertise. “Dream massive and simply know something’s attainable while you put your thoughts to it.”
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