Tampa native, Team USA takes silver in men’s tennis doubles

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa native Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, of Team USA, took home silver in Saturday’s men’s tennis doubles in Paris.

The duo played three tiebreaks, falling shorts to Australians Matthew Ebden and John "Florida Man" Peers, who took gold.

Team USA began the match strong, taking the first set and breaking the Australians’ serve in the second.

Ebden and Peers won Australia’s second tennis gold medal in Summer Games history on Saturday, beating Krajicek and Ram 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 in a match tiebreaker in the men’s doubles final. Olympics doubles uses a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker in place of a traditional third set.

The back-and-forth game wrapped up as Ebden and Peers quickly gained momentum, winning the deciding tiebreak in a 10-8 match.

The 40-year-old Ram, who is based in Indiana, was trying to become the oldest player to win an Olympics tennis gold — for men or women, in singles or doubles — since the sport returned to the Summer Games in 1988.

He and 34-year-old Krajicek also were trying to become the third U.S. duo to win a men’s doubles gold. The most recent had been the Bryans at London in 2012. The brothers were in the stands Saturday — Bob is the country’s men’s tennis coach in Paris, and Mike has been serving as a hitting partner and helping coach doubles.

Instead, Ram and Krajicek — who eliminated Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals — will head home with silvers.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.