Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 5 December 2024 | Matt Trollope
Yr in evaluate
John Friends has endured as one of many world’s high doubles gamers for greater than a decade.
He cemented his spectacular credentials by clinching Olympic males’s doubles gold at Paris 2024 alongside Matt Ebden, including to his Tokyo Olympic bronze medal with Ash Barty in blended doubles.
Friends and Ebden have been the primary Australians to win an Olympic tennis gold medal since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at Atlanta 1996.
RELATED: Seven Aussies nominated for Newcombe Medal
Friends had been gaining momentum on the ATP tour with Ebden; the duo – who stay close by each other in Perth – mixed to succeed in the Eastbourne ultimate on grass.
Earlier in 2024 Friends and William Blumberg superior to the ATP 250 ultimate in Houston, and later within the season he reunited with former accomplice Jamie Murray. The Aussie and the Brit, beforehand a pressure who mixed for six titles throughout 2013-15, received one other pair of ATP titles – in Basel and Belgrade – to complete the season strongly.
Friends, 36, closed season 2024 with 45 match wins on the doubles court docket.
Newcombe Medal historical past
That is Friends’ fifth Newcombe Medal nomination. He was nominated for 3 consecutive years from 2015 to 2017, and once more in 2021.
Response
“It’s such an honour to be nominated for the Newcombe Medal once more,” Friends stated.
“Successful the Olympic gold medal with Matt was actually a spotlight of my profession, and to have the ability to do it with a fellow Aussie made it much more particular.”
The Newcombe Medal, Australian Tennis Awards might be held on Monday 9 December at Melbourne’s Palladium Ballroom.
Comply with alongside on Tennis Australia’s social channels because the night unfolds utilizing the hashtag #Newks24.
Discover out extra in regards to the awards, together with award classes and former recipients.