M&Ms get the doubles choccies
MATT Ebden has declared it “good for Aussie tennis” after his double pairing broke another long drought at Wimbledon in gutsy fashion.
Twelve months after Ash Barty became the first Australian woman in 42 years to win the women’s singles title, Ebden and Max Purcell became the first all-Aussie pairing in 22 years to win the men’s doubles.
The last Aussie pair to lift the trophy was the Woodies – Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, who claimed their sixth Wimbledon together in 2000.
Nicknamed “M&Ms”, Ebden and Purcell did it the hard way, beating the defending champions from Croatia – Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic – in a five-set thriller 7-6 6-7 4-6 6-4 7-6.
Courageously, Pavic played the entire final, which took more than four hours to complete, with a broken wrist.
“How good for Aussie tennis?” Ebden said.
“Two Aussie teams in the finals there. Ash winning in bloody singles.
“We have Nick (Kyrgios) here in the finals of the singles. We won the doubles.
“Were in the mixed doubles with (Sam) Stosur. We’re just trying to do Australia proud, show Aussie grit and fight, win Wimbledon for Australia. We have a rich history.”
The M&Ms staged a series of remarkable comebacks to win the title – the likes of which Wimbledon has never seen before.
They saved three match points and came from two sets down to win their openinground clash in a fifth set tiebreaker.
They also came from two sets down to win their secondround encounter.
Their third-round match was another five-setter while they saved five match points – and again came from two sets down – to win their semi-final.
“We’re sitting here, having won the title, but first round we could have been out with one point,” Ebden said.
“To finish Wimbledon final with a match tiebreak, it was insane ... it’s the stuff you dream of.”
The M&Ms are the same pairing that lost to Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis – the Special Ks – at this year’s Australian Open.
Relations with the Special Ks soured at Melbourne but Kyrgios posted a tweet straight after their Wimbledon win congratulating them.
“Congrats @mattebden & @MaxPurcell98 very solid effort, guess I don’t mind M&Ms anyway,” he tweeted.
“Classic, that was funny,” Ebden said. “Some people were saying Special K is better. I think when I lost, I put on my Instagram, I still prefer M&Ms, just saying.”