How Ted Lasso helped Max Purcell win Wimbledon

It’s a warm summer day. You’re watching the Wimbledon final on Centre Court and it’s heading to a tie-break to decide the champion after five incredible sets.

As a fan, it’s the dream tennis scenario. The best court. The best competition. The most important match. It happened this year, but most of you probably missed it.

The most absorbing and gripping final at the 2022 Championships was not produced by Novak Djokovic beating Nick Kyrgios or by Elena Rybakina toppling Ons Jabeur in the singles. It was sandwiched in-between the two of them.

Australians Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden – seeded fourteenth – stunned last year’s champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the men’s doubles to register the duo’s first Grand Slam title, with three of the five sets decided on tie-breaks.

It was a phenomenal match, but for whatever reason there is not as much of a buzz around doubles tennis, something that irks Purcell. The 24-year-old faced the biggest match of his career but was worried that that ‘people might not come back’ after a sea of green seats appeared after Rybakina’s win over Jabeur.

It’s true. Near the start of the match you could easily walk down to the front row if you were sat right at the top. That started to change in the first set as a few excited Australians found their way to Centre Court. Then more fans piled in as the drama kept increasing. Before you knew it, the sea of green seats was gone.

‘It was [a good atmosphere]… the place was packed for the fifth-set tie-break… it was nuts in there by the end,’ Purcell, a passionate defender of doubles, exclusively tells Metro Sport. ‘I personally prefer watching doubles to singles. It’s so much more exciting. It’s a faster, shorter format and there’s more tension there.