For only the second time ever, Australia has won an Olympic gold medal in tennis. On Saturday in the men’s doubles tennis gold medal game, John Peers of Melbourne and Matthew Ebden of Perth beat the American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, 6-7, 7-6, [10-8]. Krajicek and Ram won the first set tiebreak 8-6, and Ebden and Peers won the second set tiebreak in dominant fashion 7-1.
Ebden and Peers won the Olympic gold medal despite not being seeded. Krajicek and Ram were seeded fourth. Krajicek and Ram were one of two seeded American teams Eden and Peers beat in the Olympic men’s doubles tennis tournament. In the semifinals, Ebden and Peers beat Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, the third seeds, 7-5, 6-2.
Prior to beating the two American teams, Ebden and Peers defeated Hady Habib and Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon 7-6, 6-2 in the first round, Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers of Spain, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round, and Dominik Koepfer of Germany and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 7-6, 7-6 in the third round.
The first time Australia won gold in Olympic tennis came in 1996. Todd Woodbridge of Sydney and Mark Woodforde of Adelaide won the men’s doubles title as they beat Tim Henman and Neil Broad of Great Britain in the final, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
In addition to his Olympic gold medal, Peers has won two grand slam doubles majors. He teamed up with Henri Kontinen of Finland to win the 2017 Australian Open in men’s doubles, and then Storm Hunter of Rockhampton to win the 2022 United States Open in mixed doubles.
Ebden has won three grand slam doubles tennis events. He teamed up with Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia to win the 2013 Australian Open in mixed doubles, then with Max Purcell of Sydney to win the 2022 Wimbledon men’s doubles championship, and then with Rohan Bopanna of India to win the 2024 Australian Open in men’s doubles.
In the Olympic women’s doubles tournament, the gold medalists were Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani of Italy. Paolini and Errani beat Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of the Individual Neutral Athletes in the final, 2-6, 6-1, [10-7].
This was Australia’s 12th Olympic gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Their previous 11 gold medals came from Grace Brown of Camperdown (women’s cycling road time trial), Ariarne Titmus of Launceston (women’s 400 metre freestyle swimming), Jessica Fox of Sydney (women’s K1 and C1 slalom canoeing), Mollie O’Callaghan of South Brisbane (women’s 200 metre freestyle swimming), Kaylee McKeown of Redcliffe (women’s 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke), the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle swimming relay, the women’s 4×200 metre freestyle swimming relay, Cameron McEvoy of Benowa (men’s 50 metre freestyle swimming), and Saya Sakakibara of Gold Coast (women’s BMX racing).
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