Matthew Ebden receives a wild card for the Brisbane International – Tennis News
Local star, Matthew Ebden, was awarded a wild card entry at the Brisbane International, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event taking place from 30th December to 6th January in Australia.
The South-African born Ebden enjoyed his breakthrough season this year as he reached his career best rank of 61 in October and recorded some great victories. The Aussie recorded his maiden Grand Slam match victories and the Davis Cup wins this season and
was delighted of his achievements.
Ebden was quoted in a press conference after receiving the wild card, "The year 2012 was good in a few ways. I won some of my first grand slam matches and played in the main draws of all the slams. I also won some of my first Davis Cup matches and debuted
... and won by far the most tour matches through the whole season that I have ever done.”
The Perth resident started this season with a first round loss at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane. However, he managed to overpower Joao Souza in the opening round at the Australian Open and helped his nation triumph over China after defeating Ya-Nan
Ma in straight sets at the Davis Cup.
He then secured a fourth round berth at the BNP Paribas in Indian Wells through qualifiers. Ebden stunned the eighth seed Mardy Fish and the 32nd seed Julien Benneteau before losing to the American number one John Isner.
The 25-year-old carried his rhythm at his next Davis Cup match. He downed Korea’s Suk-Young Jeong in straight sets and helped his nation earn the glory.
His form deteriorated after that and he fell on a five-match losing streak. Ebden snapped out from his bad patch at the Atlanta Tennis Championship where he cruised to the final eight.
With his impressive performances, Ebden reached his career best rank. However, he lost his form towards the end of the season and eventually ended the seasons standing at number 105th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings.
Another local contestant, Jarmila Gajdosova, received a wild card entry for this joint hard court event.
"It means a lot. I can't thank enough the Brisbane International and Tennis Australia for giving me this opportunity to start my comeback and new year playing main draw at such a great event," the former Top 25 thanked the organization and Tennis Australia
for this reward.
Both Ebden and Gajdosova are currently training hard for the upcoming season.
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