Two Australian men’s teams face off in the doubles final for the first time since 1980, but the media’s fascination with who the crowd will support on Saturday has been a turn off for both teams.
The men’s doubles final will be an all-Aussie affair with Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis winning through their semi-final match to set up an epic clash on Saturday against Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden.
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It is the first all-Australian men’s doubles final since Mark Edmondson and Kim Warwick defeated Peter McNamara and Paul McNamee 42 years ago.
But the celebratory tone turned a tad sour during the post-match press conferences for both teams, as both sets of players seemed frustrated with the line of questioning after qualifying for the final match.
At the end of Thursday afternoon’s presser, Purcell and Ebden took issue with this question from a reporter.
“I don’t know if you’re aware in the ’90s when Australia played Australia A in the cricket,” the journalist began.
“The public ended up supporting Australia A instead of Australia.”
Purcell asked with a grin: “Who is Australia and who is Australia A?”
“Given the sort of support for them over the last,” the journalist replied before Purcell interrupted.
“So we’re the underdogs?” he asked.
That’s when Ebden chimed in to answer the question.
“Let’s look at it,” he started.
“They have higher singles rankings right now. We have higher doubles rankings. They had big crowd support. We did also yesterday. The pressure is on them for sure. They’ve had pressure on them their whole lives.”
Both players kept a lid on their frustrations before Purcell addressed the question and left the press conference with a smile while telling the journalists in attendance “silliest questions of all time”
“They’re playing big-time singles out there. We’re bringing a bit more doubles to the court. They’re not looking to beat us at our game,” he said.
“We’re not looking to beat them at their game. It’s not like there –there’s no A and B, I feel like. They’re better at their game.
“We’re better at our game. I don’t feel there’s any underdog or over pair.”
The suggestion the crowd will take sides also ticked off Kyrgios, when the idea was put to him.
“These questions are so depressing,” he said.
“We have four Aussies in the final. Can we stop dividing which crowd is going to go for who? It’s just amazing we got four Aussies in the final. Ash doing her thing. Dylan’s last Australian Open. Can we up the energy a little bit?
“It’s f—ing awesome. Can we have some hype questions? Because I’d rather just walk out.”
While none of the players have played in a Grand Slam final, Purcell has some experience.
The 23-year-old has previously been in this same situation, having made the Australian Open doubles final two years ago.
Back then he was playing alongside fellow Australian Luke Saville, in just their second tournament together.
Amazingly, the 2022 Australian Open is only Purcell and Ebden’s second tournament together. The pair boast a 8-1 win-loss record as a team, with their only loss against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in last year’s US Open quarterfinals, the team they beat to qualify for the final.
Like Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, they have sent four seeded teams packing on their way to Saturday’s final.
Ebden said they have regularly spoken to Kokkinakis and Kyrgios throughout the tournament and congratulated them for their win.
“We already just spoke to them, congratulated them, they congratulated us.” Ebden said.
“It’s awesome to have two Aussie teams playing off in the final. What could be better really?
“I’ve been talking to Thanasi these last few matches trying to help him beat the guys he’s been beating actually. He’s been asking how his opponents play. We know obviously some of the doubles guys pretty well.
“Today I didn’t really know their opponents that well, to be honest. Couldn’t help him that much. Yeah, wanting them to win so we could all win, play off in the final.”
It will be 34-year-old Ebden’s first ever Grand Slam final after contesting 30 slams. His previous best efforts were quarterfinal appearances at Roland Garros 2012, Australian Open 2021 and US Open 2021.
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