Matt Ebden and Max Purcell crowned doubles champions: ‘We just won Wimbledon. How good’s that’

Wimbledon
Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell Wimbledon men's doubles champions

Matt Ebden and Max Purcell kicked off what could be a great weekend for Australian tennis with victory in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final over Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic – who played despite having a broken wrist.

The left-handed Croatian suffered the injury during the semi-finals but decided to contest the final despite not being able to hold the racket with his right hand and having to use a single-handed backhand.

Remarkably, Pavic and fellow Croatian Mektic came agonisingly close to successfully defending their title, leading by two sets to one before losing out on a deciding tie-break 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Pavic said: “It happened during the semi-finals, in the first set. I had a fracture on the bone. It was tough to handle those two matches. It was tough to play. We were close. It’s a bit frustrating. We gave our best, we gave it a fight and I think we can be very proud of ourselves for those two matches.”

Ebden and Purcell, for whom this is a first grand slam title, have lived dangerously throughout their run, playing five-set matches in all but one round.

The Australian Open runners-up saved match points in the first round and then again in the semi-finals, when top seeds Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram led by two sets to love before having five chances to win in the third-set tie-break.

“I thought we were out of here in the first round,” said Purcell. “Three match points. And we just won Wimbledon. How good’s that.”

Ebden praised Mektic and Pavic, saying: “They almost beat us with an injury. We were very lucky to win. That just shows how great a team they are.”

Nick Kyrgios will hope to follow in his countrymen’s footsteps when he takes on Novak Djokovic in the singles final on Sunday.

Mate Pavic Matthew Ebden Max Purcell Nikola Mektic

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