Australia’s Matt Ebden and John Peers have broken a 28-year drought to claim gold in the men’s doubles against American fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 10-8 on Philippe-Chatrier.
Not since the Atlanta 1996 Games has Australia won a gold medal at an Olympic tennis event when Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde achieved the feat.
The first test eventuated in the third game on Ram's serve, digging deep from 15-40 down to hold a nervy game before pouncing on a sloppy Peers service game to lead 4-2.
Both 36 years old, the Aussie pairing have grown up together on the tour and become close friends - evident through their understanding and cohesion on the court which helped wrestle back momentum and break back to equalise proceedings at 4-4.
True Aussie grit and fighting spirit dragged Ebden and Peers out of the trenches twice in the tie-break to recover from a 1-4 deficit and save two set points trailing 4-6. However, another lustrous return from Ram earned the Americans a hard-fought one set advantage.
Again, the backhand return up the line from Ram caused the Australians all sorts of problems, as the 40-year-old neutralised Ebden's serve to clinch an all-important early break in set two.
From there, it was treading the way of an American victory until Ebden handed Ram a taste of his own medicine with a brilliant backhand return to break back for 4-4 - just as they did in the opening set.
In only the second deuce game of the match, the green and gold partnership stood firm after letting slip a comfortable 40-15 lead to pile the pressure back on their opponents, inevitably forcing another tie-break.
A scintillating start from the Aussies ensured they raced out to a 4-0 lead, conceding the sole point and sending the final into a nail-biting 10-point super tie-break.
One early double fault from both sets of teams demonstrated the nerves, but the Aussies kept their foot on the pedal with arguably the point of the match coming from an insane rally won by Peers who turned into Carlos Alcaraz for a split moment.
After dropping three championship points up 9-5, it was fourth time lucky as Ebden and Peers dropped their racquets and embraced in an emotional hug to create a memorable moment they will never forget.
“Still in a bit of disbelief the way that was, because 20 minutes ago our backs were against the wall and we weren’t looking good!” Peers laughed after the match.
“We knew that coming in it was going to be another dogfight out there. We just kept saying to each other ‘hang around long enough, hang around long enough’.
As a 12-year-old, Ebden emigrated to Australia from South Africa with his family and touched on his journey during his speech.
“I moved to Australia when I was a kid; Australia adopted me,” he said. “It’s been an incredible ride my whole life since then, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I think it’s the greatest country on earth, and I’m super grateful to be Australian.”
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