Andy Murray of Great Britain warms up during a practice session ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at the Olympic Tennis Centre on August 3, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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“I am very proud to be selected as the Team GB flag bearer for the opening ceremony on Friday”, Murray said in a statement from the British Olympic Association. “It was great winning Wimbledon but it’s time to move on now and focus on this event”.
“I remember when I was in Beijing, although I didn’t perform well there, it was just nice being surrounded by the best athletes from your country, seeing them coming back with medals, it feels a lot more like a team environment”.
Andy Murray will open the defence of his Olympic singles title against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in Rio on Sunday.
Although double Wimbledon champion and Davis Cup hero Murray is widely recognised as a worthy candidate given his extensive list of career achievements, his selection is nevertheless slightly surprising given the timing of his event.
“The conviction with which Andy spoke to me about the honour of carrying the flag only underlined why he is such an exceptional individual, and absolutely the right choice”, he said. Not only that, but Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic have withdrawn from the summer spectacle due to their concerns about the Zika virus, leaving just half of the world’s top-10 players in the men’s draw.
By turning the tables in the Olympics, Murray put himself in the conversation with Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and rode the momentum to his first major title at the U.S. Open later that summer.
Tennis star Murray, the defending Olympic champion, will lead out the British team in what he describes as one of the proudest moments of his career.
Murray has not played since his lifting his second Wimbledon title three weeks ago. I hadn’t played a match on hard courts for four months.
The Brit won the singles at London 2012 and has made a decision to defend his title, despite worries over Zika in Brazil.
He will also partner up with older brother Jamie in the men’s double competition.
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The number one British tennis player was displaying the flag to the media, standing beside Princess Anne, who is herself a former Olympian and now an International Olympic Committee member.
