Matt Ebden begins the build-up to Wimbledon as he returns to one of his favorite surfaces and looks to capitalize on his impressive momentum on the doubles court.
London, England, June 18, 2024 | Matt Trollope
After finishing in the semi-finals at Roland Garros, Matt Ebden is preparing for another tilt at Wimbledon as he begins his grass-court campaign at the Queen’s Club this week.
The doubles world number one will play a pair of qualifiers in the first round with Rohan Bopanna as the top seeded duo.
The quick transition between surfaces on opposite ends of the spectrum – from sandy, slow clay to smooth, fast grass – is perhaps one of the most extreme adjustments required in professional sports.
But that doesn’t matter to Ebden.
“For me, not so much, because I played a lot of junior tennis growing up in Perth, so I played a lot of club and league tennis on the grass,” he said this week. sit down Podcast.
Listen: Sit-Down with Matt Ebden
“So when you walk onto the grass court, you feel like you’re in your living room. It feels so comfortable and natural.
“For me (the transition challenge) is probably the opposite. Going to clay the first week after finishing Miami on hard courts, training going to clay, adapting all the specific movements of the body and drill patterns in that way is probably the biggest thing for me. .
“But getting back on the grass feels really natural and is always a fun and exciting time for me. So I like it.”
Ebden, the 2022 Wimbledon doubles champion alongside fellow Aussie Max Purcell, has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Bopanna this year and together they are prioritizing the biggest events.
They have already won the Australian Open and Miami Masters titles and have a 20-7 win-loss record after reaching the last four in Paris.
Even after losing in three sets in the semifinals of Roland Garros to Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, his AO 2024 final opponents, Ebden was able to regain the top spot in the doubles rankings, but 36 The 7-year-old had mixed feelings.
“It was good to go pretty deep (in Paris) and we played well. I was kind of happy to get there. But on the other hand, we lost in the semifinals and it was actually so close that I felt like it really could have been. “It was actually really bittersweet to be one set away from the final and one game away from winning,” he admitted.
“As difficult as it was for a few days to handle that position, I was happy to be there. That’s the good and the bad about tennis. Every time I get a really good result, I feel a certain level of satisfaction, but at the same time, I also think, ‘Oh, I missed an opportunity.’
“I definitely want to take advantage of all these slams now and try to win them. Now is the time. We are not getting any younger, and there is no time like the present.
“We are at the peak, at the top of our game. So now is the time.”
