Olympic tennis star Matthew Ebden begged a fan to replace him during his brutal first-round singles defeat to Novak Djokovic at Paris 2024 on Saturday.
The Australian simply could not handle Djokovic as the Serbian conjured up a brutal 6-0 bagel and then raced into a 2-0 second-set lead with an early break inside just 30 minutes at Roland-Garros, usually home to the iconic French Open.
After losing his eighth game of the match in a row, Ebden turned around and offered his racket to anyone in the crowd who would be willing to step in for him.
It came after Ebden controversially attempted an underarm serve – seen as unsportsmanlike and frowned upon in tennis – as he still lost the point to Djokovic, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion eventually winning 6-0 6-1.
More to follow…
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