August 5, 2012
Andy Murray has won gold in the men’s singles event at the Olympic Games after beating Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the final at Wimbledon, before teaming up to take a silver medal with Laura Robson in the mixed doubles.
The British No.1 dominated the singles final, winning in straight sets in sunny conditions on Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
The Olympic champion said afterwards: “That’s number one for me. The biggest win of my life. This week’s been absolutely incredible so far, I’ve had a lot of fun. The support’s been amazing. They’ve been unbelievable.
“I spoke to Ivan [Lendl] after the Wimbledon final and he said to me you’ll never play under more pressure than you did in the Wimbledon final. I’m able to deal with the situations better now and I did, I felt much more comfortable on the court. I went for some big serves and I got them. The whole week has been amazing.
“I’ve had a lot of tough losses in my career, but this is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final. I’ll never forget it. I’ve won an Olympic gold medal, I haven’t won a grand slam. I know how this feels and it feels great. For me it’s the biggest win of my life.”
In front of a patriotic British crowd Murray delighted the home fans by romping his way through the first two sets and holding his serve to close the match out in style in the third, sealing the win with an ace.
Murray spoke about the match and the scoreline: “I was expecting it to be an incredibly tough match. Every time I play him especially in the big matches he’s played so well and made it so difficult for me. At the start of the match he was playing very well. Once I got through that first set and held at 2-0 in the second after a long game I felt much better. But no way did I expect a scoreline like that.”
Murray becomes the first British winner of an Olympics tennis men’s singles title for 104 years, since Josiah Ritchie won in 1908.
Barely an hour later and Murray was back on Centre Court teaming up with Laura Robson for their mixed doubles final against Belarus’s Max Mirnyi & Victoria Azarenka.
In a tight match GB were dominant in the first set set before the Belarusians, featuring two world No.1’s, struck back in the second to take the match into a deciding match tie-break.
After recovering from 0-3 the British team changed ends at 6-6 before losing three points in a row to face three match points. Despite saving the first two a third was too far as the Belarusians claimed the win in a 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 scoreline.
Andy Murray joins Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka in winning two medals at the London 2012 Olympics tennis and Laura Robson becomes the third youngest female Olympic tennis medallist in history.
Robson commented on the match and winning a silver medal: “It’s pretty cool. We played really well for most of the match, they were a tough team. It’s just been one of the best weeks of my life. I’ve loved playing on big Centre courts with crowds like that.”
Murray added: “It’s a bit disappointing. I was a bit gutted at the end as it would have been great to have two golds. It just came down to a couple of points. You can see how much it means to all the athletes. I think tennis belongs in the Olympics.”
Lawn Tennis Association Chief Executive Roger Draper said after the matches:
“Huge congratulations to Andy Murray and Laura Robson for winning unforgettable Olympic medals at the London 2012 Games. For Andy to defeat the world No.1, and probably the greatest player who has ever lived in some style, at his home Olympics is quite simply superb, and what a fantastic achievement by Laura Robson to team up with Andy in the mixed and take silver. It’s been a remarkable day for British tennis with real elation at the All England Club and it’s great to see the nation get behind our players.
“Over these last two days we have seen one of the most exciting and dramatic weekends ever for British sport, and it’s great that tennis has played a huge part in that and been able to keep the momentum going for Team GB. The whole message around London 2012 has been about inspiring the next generation and that’s exactly what Andy and Laura have done today.
“Our job now is to capitalise on that and never have we been better placed to ensure that those people who want to get involved in our sport have every opportunity to do so.”
Issued by LTA