Novak Djokovic says his thumping of Aussie is 'not a good image' for tennis at Olympics

Novak Djokovic says his thumping of Aussie Matthew Ebden in just 53 minutes at the Olympics was 'not a good image' for tennis and demanded a change to the rules.

For most of the afternoon under the roof on Court Phillippe Chatrier, it was hard work for Perth's 36-year-old doubles specialist Ebden, playing his first tour-level singles match for two years.

Drafted in to the tournament as a last-minute replacement, Ebden always knew it was mission impossible' against the 24-time grand slam winner.

As he battled at 6-0 4-0 down, the full house kept roaring him on to break his duck, and when Ebden finally held serve, he broke into a broad smile, stretched his arms out wide and pulled his yellow Australia shirt over his head to celebrate.

'I'm sorry for Matt, he told me at the net it was his first match for two years and he's officially retired from his singles career,' Djokovic said after completing the 53-minute rout.

'Obviously, he's focused on doubles so it was tough for him.'

The super Serb didn't think the match made much sense. 

'I really don't understand the rules,' he said.

'It's not logical for me that you have someone withdraws from singles and you call up a doubles player to play singles.

'I don't think it's a good image for the sport, to be honest. There are lots of singles players that had plenty of time to get here and could have been called to come.

'So this part I don't get at all. I hope the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and the Olympics change the rule because it was tough on Matt. 

'He hasn't played singles in two years.'

Another Australian bit the red dust just as quickly later when Rinky Hijikata was trounced 6-2 6-1 by the fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.

As for Djokovic, this was the ideal gentle warm-up for a potential second-round thriller with Rafael Nadal, who first must beat Marton Fucsovics in his first-round contest.

'There's great hype around that match,' smiled Djokovic.

'It can be a blockbuster, one of the events people are looking forward to at this Olympics and I'm looking forward to what could be our last dance, so to say, on this court.'

Nadal later said he wasn't sure if he would play the singles, because he wants to give himself the best chance to medal.

That is likely to be in doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, the all-star Spanish team which defeated Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Alcaraz also won his singles, 6-3 6-1 win over Lebanon's Hady Habib, on the covered Court Suzanne Lenglen on a rain-hit programme.

Two other Aussies exited, with Daria Saville and Ellen Perez falling to American first seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-1.

In the women's singles, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka - who lit the cauldron at the Tokyo Olympics - lost her first round match to another multi-slam winner, Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-3.

She appeared to hurt her left leg at 4-3 in the second set, failing to win another game.

'I guess I need to learn how to win again. Maybe that's something I forgot how to do,' Osaka said.

After breaks from the sport for mental health and to give birth to her daughter, the former world No.1 is currently ranked 100th.

Iga Swiatek - the three-time reigning French Open champion - also won through, as did Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini.