Matt Ebden has spoken about his joy after joining forces with Leander Paes in the veteran’s final ATP Tour tournament in India.
The pair combined for a memorable 6-2 7-6 (5) win over No.2 seeds on Artem Sitak and Divij Sharan at the Maharashtra Open in Pune on Tuesday.
While Ebden and Paes went down 6-2 6-1 Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan in Thursday’s quarterfinal, they are set to play together more before Paes retires at the end of the 2020 season.
Paes, 46, has won 18 grand slam doubles titles, starting in 1999.
“It’s such a treat to play with Matty,” Paes said. “The way he competes, the way he puts his heart on the court is a lot of fun for me.
“Matty and myself are looking to play for a few weeks down the track.
“We’ve been trying to tee it up to play together for a few years. Unfortunately, I waited too long.”
Ebden said he was loving playing in India with Paes.
“I’m just very happy, that was so much fun,” Ebden said. “And I’ve been looking for some fun in the last year in tennis and I’ve found my spark and energy with this guy so I’m happy to be in India and play with the champ.”
The pair will play together again at next week’s Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger.