Speaking about his latest achievement, 29-year-old Murray said: “It means a lot, getting to carry the flag at the opening ceremony was an incredible experience and I was very honoured”. What I have done for four months, he has done the whole year. “So it was an incredible couple of weeks for me, especially after losing in the Wimbledon final just a few weeks before”, he added. “I’m happy I won but it’s not for me to compare achievements but this one means a lot”.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Fresh off his Olympic silver medal, 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will return to Flushing Meadows for the first time in three years after receiving a wild-card invitation from the U.S. Tennis Association on Tuesday.
“It’s surreal that I even came out with any hardware at all, it’s so well contested here”, she said. Murray continued: “He’s done unbelievable to get back to playing and competing at this level again after all of the issues that he’s had with his wrists”.
Del Potro served to level the match at 5-4 but was undone by some wonderful work by Murray, who forced his already struggling opponent to concede the break.
But each time he faltered and Murray pounced.
Murray saved two break points for a 6-5 lead.
Still, the match was a fitting conclusion to a wonderful tennis tournament in Rio.
In the women’s singles, wild card recipients included Olympic mixed doubles gold medallist Bethanie Mattek-Sands and France’s Virginie Razzano.
Murray’s first Olympic singles’ title came in front of a partisan British crowd at London 2012, just a month after he had suffered a heart-breaking loss in the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer.
“Novak the last two years really has played fantastic tennis, his consistency – what I’ve done for the last four months, he’s been doing for the whole year. I think Venus and Serena [Williams] have won about four each”.
The defending champion had been flirting with danger all through this tournament.
“Very different. (London) was the first time I’d won any major event”, he said.
She and Swiss partner Timea Bacsinszky lost to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-4. I was really down after that.
Gabriela Sabatini was the first of Argentina’s tennis players to step on an Olympic podium; her silver was followed by three bronze medals by the country (Javier Frana and Christian Miniussi in doubles at Barcelona in 1992 and then by Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini in doubles at Athens in 2004).
But the Argentine not only eliminated Serbia’s world No.1 but also accounted for 2008 Beijing gold medalist Rafael Nadal in the semifinals too.
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Nadal, who won a Gold Medal in the men’s doubles category, fell short of winning one in singles competition after losing to Juan Martin del Potro before draining himself out against Kei Nishikori for a third place finish.
