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Novak Djokovic - Wimbledon 2024

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Novak Djokovic claims Olympic rule is ‘not logical’ after first round thrashing

Matthew Johns
Matthew Johns
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Novak Djokovic has hit out at the Olympic alternate rule, that saw the Serbian emphatically beat a player who had not competed in singles since 2022.Djokovic began his bid for an elusive Olympic gold medal in style after beating Australian Matthew Ebden, 6-0 6-1, in less than an hour on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Ebden entered the singles draw following a withdrawal, with only players already in the doubles field able to access the singles draw following the cut-off date. Despite his victory, Djokovic was keen to criticise this ruling, “Look, I really don’t understand the rules they’re a bit, really not logical for me.” He added, “You know that you have if somebody withdraws or cancels before or when the draw is made then you call doubles players to play singles. I don’t think it’s a good image for the sport, to be honest. There were a lot of singles players that had plenty of time, that were alternates, that could’ve been called to come.”
Ebden, who is currently the doubles world No.3 and Australian Open champion, had not played singles since August 2022 and it appears that after speaking to Djokovic he is unlikely to again. “So this part I don’t get, I really hope the ITF [International Tennis Federation] along with the Olympics will consider changing this rule because it’s tough on Matthew because, he hasn’t played I guess a singles practice in two years,” explained Djokovic. “He’s told me it’s been over two years [since] he played a singles match, this was his last singles match, he’s officially retired [from singles]. So not a great feeling for him being on the court like that but it is what it is. As I said, I’m happy with overcoming the hurdle the way I did in the first match. Tomorrow I’ll have a day of training and preparing for the first match.”
Djokovic will now have a day away from the matchcourt before playing the winner of either Marton Fucsovics or great rival
Rafael Nadal.Inside the baseline…It is hard to disagree with Novak Djokovic on this, and Matthew Ebden is not the only player without a singles ranking to enter the men’s draw after numerous withdrawals. Although you cannot have lucky losers as such in the Olympics, there could be a set list of singles reserves in place that would make for a more competitive first round match, as even for Djokovic the victory over Matthew Ebden was probably not too helpful in terms of testing himself.
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