Murray became the first tennis player in Olympic history with two singles gold medals, winning his second in a row by wearing down Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a final that lasted a tad more than 4 hours Sunday.
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Murray added the Rio title to his 2012 triumph and to his Grand Slam collection of the 2012 US Open and 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon crowns.
But the Briton pressed on, finally taking the set – and match – at 7-5.
Del Potro’s silver goes alongside his bronze from four years ago.
Murray talked about his mindset after the grueling Olympics, per Dan Wolken of USA Today: “To finish with a match like that was very emotional”.
“It hasn’t obviously been easy because a lot can happen in four years”. Forget that his three grand slam titles is 14 shy of Roger Federer’s record haul, or 11 short of Pete Sampras and Rafa Nadal.
“I’m happy that I’m still here competing for the biggest events and I’ll try and keep going”.
Since he came back from his wrist surgeries, del Potro’s backhand has more or less been relegated to a slice that doesn’t penetrate through the court in the same manner as a traditional, two-handed shot.
“What he’s had to go through over the last three years or so with his wrists – I can’t imagine how mentally hard that would have been”, said the Briton.
The first set, falling Murray’s way, was therefore so important – however, it was a closely fought one, with Murray proving just that little bit better in the key moments.
Murray won four successive games as his opponent exhausted to win the third set 6-2.
Murray’s work on serve was far from over as the Brit faced two more break points.
In the final, which goes to the best-of-five format, del Potro made it interesting early, rallying in the first set before Murray pushed past him and winning the second.
Venus, 36, missed out on her chance to become the first player to win five tennis golds when she and partner Rajeev Ram were defeated in the mixed doubles final. At Rio he won a silver.
The silver medal made up for a disappointing Games for the Williams sisters. The defending Olympic champion moved to 0-30 before the Argentine hit back with some winners of his own.
By the 10th point of Sundays match, a 26-stroke exchange that ended with Murray netting a forehand, del Potro already looked spent.
“If you asked me 10 years ago if I would be here in Rio, I would say you’re insane”, said Hingis.
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With Murray’s victory Great Britain has now won 17 Olympic gold medals in tennis. Japan’s Kei Nishikori earlier beat Nadal 6-2 6-7 (1) 6-3 to clinch bronze. The man who knocked out Novak Djokovic in round one looked very determined to secure the set, ripping a ferocious forehand down the line victor to wrap up the set 6-4. Del Potro broke into tears of happiness many times the past week, including after his massive upset of Djokovic and his shocking win over Nadal on Saturday.
