Manchester, Great Britain, 14 September 2023 | Matt Ebden

Fresh from a career-best run at the US Open, Matt Ebden is proudly representing Australia at the Davis Cup Finals in Manchester this week. The world No.8 shares an exclusive insight into his preparations …

There really is nothing like wearing the green and gold. Playing and performing for your team and country is very special and unique.

I love the team environment. It’s fun to spend time practising and hanging out with your team-mates all week. Generally, all year long we are usually much more individual with our own private teams and preparations at our respective tournaments.

I missed the first few days with the team last week as I arrived late from New York.

It was a good problem to have, of course, going all the way at US Open and playing the men’s doubles final. But it didn’t leave much time to recover and travel to Manchester and get prepared.

After flying straight across from NYC, I needed to catch up on some sleep after a big fortnight. I also had a little bit of jetlag coming across this way.

The focus has been on adapting to the new conditions and getting ready to go again.

The schedule isn’t easy, but we know what it is like and we have planned for it. I’m planning to go home after Davis Cup and get some rest in the coming weeks.

Team dinners are always fun and we had the official Davis Cup function on Sunday night at the National Football Museum in Manchester.

All the teams were presented and photographed, and the guest speaker was the CEO of Manchester City Football Club.

The club had four of the big trophies they currently hold on display, including the Premier League and Champions League.

The Australian team at the official Davis Cup dinner in Manchester. Picture: Getty Images

Our number one goal this year is to get our hands on the Davis Cup trophy.

We came very close last year being finalists. That has definitely inspired all of us to want to improve and aim to go one better.

I feel like I’m hitting the ball well and I’m feeling confident about our chances of progressing to the knockout stage in Spain in November, even though we do face a strong group of opponents.

But that’s the beauty of Davis Cup too, you know it’s the best of the best playing for their country. There’s no greater honour.

One thing we are definitely looking for is some Aussie support here in Manchester.

This new format of Davis Cup is a little strange, in where all these group stages are always taking place in Europe.

We’d love to have fans cheering and supporting us at ties all over the world, wherever we are.

If there are any Aussies in Manchester, we encourage them all to get out and support us this week.

Book online, play today: Visit play.tennis.com.au to get out on court and have some fun!