PARIS (AP) — Matt Ebden and John Peers won Australia’s second tennis gold medal in Olympic history on Saturday, beating Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the United States 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in a match tiebreaker in the 2024 Games men’s doubles final.
Olympics doubles uses a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker in place of a traditional third set.
Ebden and Peers trailed by a set and 4-2 in the second before breaking Ram’s serve to begin the comeback. Their tennis gold follows the one won for Australia by Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in men’s doubles at Atlanta in 1996.
Ebden drew attention at the start of these Olympics when he was a fill-in in singles and lost to Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-1 after moving into that bracket when other players withdrew. Djokovic said he doesn’t think someone like Ebden — a 36-year-old doubles specialist who hadn’t competed in a tour-level, main-draw singles match since June 2022 — should have been on the court without a teammate at the Summer Games.
When Saturday’s match ended, the children of Peers and Ebden climbed out of the stands to hug their fathers. Ebden draped a replica gold medal around the neck of his son, whom he then tossed in the air and caught.
The 40-year-old Ram, who is based in Indiana, was trying to become the oldest player to win an Olympics tennis gold — for men or women, in singles or doubles — since the sport returned to the Summer Games in 1988.
He and Krajicek, a 34-year-old who lives in Florida, also were trying to become the third U.S. duo to win a men’s doubles gold. The most recent had been twins Bob and Mike Bryan at London in 2012. The brothers were in the stands Saturday — Bob is the country’s men’s tennis coach in Paris, and Mike has been serving as a hitting partner and helping coach doubles.
Instead, Ram and Krajicek — who eliminated Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals — will head home with silvers.
Later Saturday, another American duo, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, were scheduled to face Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic for the bronze. Machac and Katerina Siniakova won the gold in mixed doubles on Friday night.
Both Ram and Krajicek have been ranked No. 1 in doubles. Ram has collected four Grand Slam titles in men’s doubles with another partner — plus a couple of mixed doubles trophies at majors — and Krajicek won one in men’s doubles.
Ebden has been as high as No. 2 in the doubles rankings and has won two Slam trophies in men’s doubles and one in mixed.
Peers won a bronze in mixed doubles with Ash Barty at the Tokyo Games three years ago. He has been No. 1 in doubles and owns one Grand Slam title each in men’s doubles — which came by beating the Bryans in the final of the 2017 Australian Open — and mixed doubles.
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
