Only drafted in to the tournament as a last-minute replacement, Ebden always knew it was ‘mission impossible’ against the 24-time grand slam winner, but professional pride for a player who was once a top-40 performer demanded that he had to fight to avoid the ultimate tennis embarrassment.
As he battled at 6-0 4-0 down, the full house kept roaring him on to break his duck, and Ebden finally held serve, broke into a broad smile, stretched his arms out wide and pulled his yellow Australia shirt over his head to celebrate.
The reprieve didn’t last long as Djokovic, playing in his first match on the court since suffering the knee injury at the French Open that required surgery, raced to complete his 6-0 6-1 drubbing in just 53 minutes.
The pair embraced warmly at the end, with Ebden, who has a shot at winning two doubles medals, getting sympathy from the Serb.
“I’m sorry for Matt, he told me at the net it was his first match for two years and he’s officially retired from his singles career,” said Djokovic.
“Obviously, he’s focused on doubles so it was tough for him.”
But while he could chuckle about his lesson from the top seed, even at one point offering his racquet to anyone in the crowd who might fancy helping him out, Ebden was genuinely happy to have been able to play Djokovic for the first time on the famous Roland Garros centre court that he had never graced before.
And for Djokovic, it was the ideal gentle warm-up for a potential second-round thriller with Rafael Nadal, who first must beat Marton Fucsovics in his first-round contest.
“There’s great hype around that match,” smiled Djokovic.
“I’ve done my part of the job, obviously he has to win his first round tomorrow. It can be a blockbuster, one of the events people are looking forward to at this Olympics and I’m looking forward to what could be our last dance, so to say, on this court.”
The rain wrought havoc with the first day’s programme, just as it had done throughout the French Open two months ago, with no play on the outside courts early on.
Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz opened up on the covered Court Suzanne Lenglen with a 6-3 6-1 win over Lebanon’s Hady Habib, while French Open winner Iga Swiatek beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 7-5 on Chatrier.
