Ebden, primarily a doubles participant, knew he was going through one of many hardest duties in tennis – as his social media publish on the day of the draw confirmed., exterior
And it was precisely as he’d feared: after half-hour, he was 6-0 2-0 down and seemed to be out of concepts.
He tried every little thing – together with an underarm serve that Djokovic nonetheless returned – earlier than jokingly providing his racquet to a bunch within the crowd to see if they might do any higher.
The most important cheer of the afternoon got here when Ebden lastly bought on the board for 4-1 within the second set.
Ebden put his shirt over his head and celebrated in direction of the group, who gave him a standing ovation, earlier than an amused Djokovic patted him on the shoulder as they went to their chairs.
Djokovic could have wished for barely harder opposition to seek out his rhythm on the courtroom, however he’ll welcome a fast victory nonetheless.
No play was potential on the surface courts on Saturday, with Britons Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Katie Boulter having to attend an additional day to start their singles campaigns.
