Twenty-eight years after watching the Woodies win Olympic gold, Editor at Large Louise Evans witnesses another Australian tennis triumph on the French clay.
Australia’s 12th gold medal was won on the rich Roland Garros clay where the ageing men’s doubles team of Matt Ebden and John Peers Ebden pulled off a feat they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
With their wives cheering from the stands and their young children doing cross-fingered salutes, Ebden and Peers, both 36, closed out American doubles specialists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in a third set super tiebreak 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-1) 10-8 in just over two hours.
Of course, as has been the story for Australia at these Olympics, there was history on the white line.
It’s the first time Australia have won a gold medal in Olympic tennis since the “Woodies” – Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge – triumphed in Atlanta in 1996. The Woodies also won the silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.
The noise at the famed French tennis centre was initially not with the Aussie duo as “U-S-A” chants rang out over the clay. But the pro-American crowd couldn’t carry their boys to victory.
The Australians fought back after losing the first set and dug deep into their wealth of experience to hold their nerve and their serve.
When the final ball was struck and the gold was won, Ebden and Peers went to their wives to bring their kids down onto the court for a celebration they’ll never forget.
Ebden was still trying to process their come-from-behind victory as he made his way to the medal ceremony.
“My feeling is disbelief,” he said. “We set out with the goal that we could do it and win. We had strong form coming into Roland Garros. It was an uphill battle and clay is not traditionally our best surface but I suppose it is now. We became one with the clay, we turned the match around. It’s disbelief.”
Peers said their game plan was not to lose momentum or faith despite losing the first set.
“We had our backs against the wall, it was a dog fight,” Peers said. “But we kept saying ‘hang around’. I’m feeling disbelief too. It’s not how you start but how you finish.”
Peers said his two young kids would now have a great show-and-tell for school when they got home.
“We had to take my little ones out of school but now they have something special to show for it,” Peers said. “ It’s great that they are here because it’s hard on our families. We travel year in and year out.
“The final was always going to be a battle, we knew those (American) guys are pure class. The tide kept rolling our way. Our chances kept coming and we took them.”
South African-born Ebden paid tribute to his adopted country for the love and support that has made him one of the best doubles players in the world.
“For me to win gold for Australia is so special. I moved here as a young kid and Australia adopted me. It’s been the ride of my life in the best country on earth.
“These moments are very rare in your career. This is a once-off, playing at the Olympics is rare, winning gold is rarer. I’ll be talking about this until I’m 100 years old.”
Both Ebden and Peers are doubles masters. Ebden won the Australian Open doubles earlier this year with Indian partner Rohan Bopanna while Peers won the 2017 Australian Open doubles with Finland’s Henri Kontinen. Peers also won Olympic bronze in Tokyo with the legendary Ash Barty.
“Winning the bronze was unbelievable,” Peers said. “You dream of winning gold and now we’ll be on top of the podium. This is for everyone here and back home.”
Louise Evans is an award-winning journalist who has worked around Australia and the world as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and media executive for media platforms including The Sydney Morning Herald (eight years), The Australian (11 years) and Australian Associated Press (six years in London, Beijing and Sydney).
A women sports’ pioneer, Louise was the first female sports journalist employed by The Sydney Morning Herald and the first female sports editor at The Australian. Louise went on to work at six Olympic Games, six Commonwealth Games and numerous world sporting championships and grand slam tennis events.
Louise is the Founding Editor of AAP FactCheck, the Creator of #WISPAA – Women in Sport Photo Action Awards and national touring Exhibition and the author and producer of the Passage to Pusan book, documentary and exhibition.
In 2019 she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) Queen’s Honour for services to the media and sport and named an Australian Financial Review Top 100 Woman of Influence for services to the arts, culture and sport.
In 2020 she won a NSW Volunteer of the Year Award plus the NSW Government Community Service Award for her women-in-sport advocacy work.
Discussion about this post