Olympics tennis star retires on the spot after getting absolutely thrashed

Olympics 2024 tennis star Matthew Ebden has announced his retirement from singles following his humiliating defeat to Novak Djokovic on Saturday. The Australian won just one game as Djokovic romped to a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Ebden is a doubles specialist and is among the favourites to win a gold medal alongside partner John Peers.

But he was called in to face Djokovic after Andy Murray withdrew from the singles event.

Ebden, who hadn’t played a competitive singles match in over two years, was blown away throughout the showdown as he made a string of unforced errors and struggled with Djokovic’s precision and power.

And after the match had ended, the 36-year-old took to Instagram and wrote: “Safe to say I'm officially retired from singles after that.

“Was a pleasure @djokernole to share the court with you for one last singles match on Philippe Chatrier here at the Olympics. All the best for the rest of the tournament (and if it's not one of our Aussies) I hope you get the gold.”

He then added an emoji of a goat to signal his belief that Djokovic is the greatest player of all time.

Ebden clearly saw the funny side of his thrashing as at one stage he asked a fan in the crowd if they wanted to take his place in the match. But Djokovic was far more serious about the match-up after the showdown had come to an end as he called on Olympic chiefs to change the rules to avoid the need for doubles specialists to fill in.

For this Olympics, players who withdrew after July 19 had to be replaced by athletes already competing at the Games.

And Djokovic explained: “I really don’t understand the rules, they’re really not logical for me. 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 have been called to come. I really hope the ITF (International Tennis Federation) along with the Olympics will consider changing this rule.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz also insisted the rules should be “different” following his victory over Lebanon's Hady Habib, who was given Jannik Sinner’s spot in the competition following the Italian’s withdrawal.

“It’s a difficult rule, I guess,” stated the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion. “Honestly there are a lot of players who deserve to be here and playing here in the Olympic Games. I think it should be different, because the next singles player [in the world rankings] deserves to be here if someone withdraws from the tournament.”