Last year, Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna created history when winning the Australian Open, with the latter becoming the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era at 43. It was a fairytale run, after falling just short at the final hurdle at the US Open the year prior.
But, as the pair returned to Melbourne Park this year, they sought to defend their title with separate partners, much to the shock of many amongst the Australian public.
Ebden announced a new partnership with Belgian Joran Vliegen at the end of last year, leaving Bopanna without a partner. At the last minute, he scrambled to secure a short-term partnership with Colombian Nicolás Barrientos, who is ranked over 30 spots below the Indian veteran.
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However, both teams failed to set the Australian Open alight, as they crashed out in the first-round to unseeded pairings.
For Ebden, the loss was not unexpected after having rolled his ankle on Sunday last week, after the draw had already been published. Not wanting to withdraw and let his partner down, he took to the court, but failed to move convincingly, falling to Olympic Silver Medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-1 6-4.
"Terrible timing," said Ebden. "Everything was going great, some really good matches in Adelaide and some really good practice sets here and on Sunday night, I was chasing a ball and flipped [my ankle]."
Ebden admitted it was miraculous that he even made it on to court, with the injury generally having a two-week recovery time.
Bopanna and Barrientos’ loss to Pedro Martínez and Jaume Munar was perhaps more disappointing, with Barrientos being targeted by the Spaniards at every opportunity, often leaving Bopanna helpless at the net.
After the match, Bopanna did not want to talk at length about the specifics of the partnership ending but said that he would seek to play with singles players until he could find a steady doubles partner.
However, Denis Shapovalov, who described Bopanna as "like an uncle" and a "very close friend" to him, said that the Indian was left in a "bit of a shi**y situation" after Ebden revealed to Bopanna he would be playing with Vliegen only five days before the start of the Nitto ATP Finals, by which time most players had already committed to playing with their 2025 partners.
In response to these statements, Ebden revealed that he and Bopanna had only agreed to play together for the 2024 season, after making the agreement at the end of 2023.
"At the end of 2023, we’d said 'one more year'. So it was no secret. His coach knew, he knew. I don’t know if he was maybe pretending he didn’t know or something, but that was always the plan – one year at a time – and we had never fully committed ever for 2025."
Ebden also revealed that he had been set to play with Krajicek after the US Open, but after Ram split with Joe Salisbury, Krajicek changed his mind and Ebden approached Bopanna to enquire about his plans for 2025.
However, there were no firm discussions about committing between the pair and ultimately, the Australian told Bopanna in Paris that he would be partnering with Vliegen.
"There’s no easy way to change partnerships," Ebden said. "I said 'look, I’m sorry about the situation' and it was late in the season, but, you know, that’s how it goes… it’s a bit the nature of the beast in a way."
Ebden also said that he was looking to the future with Vliegen, thinking of the potential of the partnership well beyond the next 12 months.
"I said I want to play for another five years so I was looking to build a future partnership," the Olympic gold medalist said. "I expressed my feelings and thoughts and I can only be honest with myself and him and his coach. I was open and communicating the whole way through with both of them, so I thought I did the right thing, but it’s an interesting dynamic, the doubles, and one I wasn’t used to."
With the injury, Ebden opted out of the mixed doubles draw for this year, but Bopanna has moved into the second-round alongside Zhang Shuai after a strong win over Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic.
Ebden still remains hopeful for a call-up to the Davis Cup team against Sweden after being omitted from the initial list, given the injury concerns around Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
"Lleyton called me a week or two ago and said he’s not going to name me for this team. He said Nick really wants a chance, and he’s going to give him a chance to come along and see if he can train and get him back into the fold, but he said, 'I might call you in a week and a half with injuries and whatever.'"
Ebden also said that he thought his ankle would recover in time for the Davis Cup if selected.
"I’ll be more than 100 per cent by then," he confirmed. "I need another five, maybe seven days. I could easily be there if required or requested."
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