Completely overwhelmed

Opponent wants to hand over racket, Djokovic criticizes

After his 6:0, 6:1 victory over the overtaxed Australian Matthew Ebden, Novak Djokovic has criticized the seeding of the Olympic tennis tournament in Roland Garros. The top-seeded Serb asked why he was competing against a player who had not played a singles match at the highest level for two years.

Doubles player Ebden had slipped into the singles main draw after several withdrawals, although he had not played a singles match for a long time. "There were a lot of singles players who had a lot of time. There were substitutes who could have been told to come," said Djokovic on Saturday evening in Paris.

"I don't understand that"
"That part I don't understand and I really hope that the ITF and the Olympics consider changing that rule because it was tough for Matthew. He told me it's been over two years since he's played an official singles match," said the 24-time Grand Slam winner. "It's not a nice feeling for him to be on court like that."

Ebden takes it with humor
Ebden jokingly offered his racket to a fan after losing the first eight games against Djokovic on Court Phillipe-Chatrier. After the match, the Australian said his singles career was over.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) had negotiated with the IOC to extend the deadline for changing the entry lists until July 19 - later than for most other sports at the Games. However, as the top seed Jannik Sinner as well as Andy Murray and Holger Rune had canceled their participation at short notice, the selection of replacement players was limited to the doubles specialists already present in Paris.

Next cancellation 
The next withdrawal was on Sunday. Australian Alex de Minaur withdrew due to a hip injury he had sustained at Wimbledon. "I tried to do my best to be ready for the singles, but the body still needs a bit of time," the world number six said on Instagram on Sunday.