Paris 2024 tennis: John Peers and Matthew Ebden of Australia win Olympic gold in men's doubles; Team USA take silver and bronze
John Peers and Matthew Ebden of Australia defeated Team USA's Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek in three sets, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8, to win Olympic gold in men's tennis doubles at Paris 2024.
After a heavily contested first two sets, the match went to a first-to-10 tiebreak where the Australians shined, jumping out to an 8-3 lead and closing out the Americans from there.
Peers is no stranger to the podium after winning bronze in tennis mixed doubles at Tokyo 2020, while this was Ebden's maiden gold on his Olympic debut.
For the United States, Ram's and Krajicek's bronze represent the nation's first tennis medal since Rio 2016 when Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock defeated Ram and Venus Williams in an all American mixed doubles final. Sock and Steve Johnson also earned bronze in the men’s doubles in Rio.
In the later match, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz of Team USA beat Adam Pavlasek and Tomas Machac of Czechia, 6-3, 6-4, to win bronze and secure a spot on the podium.
Australia wins men's doubles gold
With the victory, Ebden and Peers become Australia's first men's doubles tennis Olympic gold medallists since Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge at Atlanta 1996.
“I can't believe it. These moments happen very rarely in your career,” Ebden said. “Just playing [in the] Olympics every four years is a dream, just to play once and to win a gold medal for your country. We'll speak about this till we're 100 years old.”
Ebden and Peers dropped the first set and trailed 4-2 in the second before breaking Ram’s serve to begin their comeback. The duo seemed prepared mentally for intense match, battling their way to a second set win before a strong showing in the tiebreak sealed the gold.
“It was always going to be an absolute battle," Peers said. "I mean, if it wasn't going to be a battle, it wasn't worthy of the gold medal match. We knew those guys were pure class the whole time, so we had to bring our best tennis.
“We hung around long enough and hung around long enough and then turned [during] the back end of the match, and it just fell our way at the end.”
Tennis: Men’s doubles podium
Gold: Australia, John Peers and Matthew Ebden
Silver: United States, Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek
Bronze: United States, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz