Rio 2016 : Andy Murray Wins Olympic Gold

Andy Murray made history on Sunday as he became the first ever tennis player to win two consecutive Olympic singles gold medals.

 

The 29-year-old managed to overcome Argentina’s Martin del Potro in four thrilling sets to defend his title, and bring home another medal for Team GB.

His victory capped an incredible year, in which the British number one won his second Wimbledon title and finished runner-up in two other Grand Slams. But he had to pull out all the stops to overcome Martin in the four-hour match.

“To defend the singles title… I think Venus and Serena (Williams) have won about four each but haven’t defended a singles title before,” Andy told the BBC after the game. “It’s obviously not an easy thing to do. I had to fight unbelievably hard tonight to get it.”

Asked whether he will attempt a treble Olympics win in Tokyo 2020, he replied; “Four years is a long time and so many things can change. A lot has changed since 2012. I’m happy competing here for the biggest events. Who knows about Tokyo in four years? At 33, I’m not sure I’ll be at the same level.”

Andy’s historic win in Rio came on a breathless day of success for Team GB, in which Britain’s athletes brought home six more gold medals and overtook China to move into second place on the medals table.

Rio 2016 : Andy Murray Wins Olympic Gold

French Open : Djokovic, Nadal Reach Milestones As Serena Eases On

World number one Novak Djokovic and nine-time winner Rafael Nadal racked up Grand Slam milestones at the French Open on Thursday (May 26) as Serena Williams coasted into the third round.

Top seed Djokovic, looking for a Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam, claimed his 50th win at the tournament by seeing off Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

It was the Serb’s third win in three career meetings with Darcis, a player nicknamed ‘Shark’ who dumped Nadal out of Wimbledon in 2013. But it was far from a smooth display from the 11-time major winner and three-time French Open runner-up who committed 42 unforced errors.

 

Djokovic next takes on Britain’s Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene who reached the third round of a major for the first time with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

Nine-time champion Nadal became just the eighth man to record up 200 Grand Slam match wins as he saw off Argentina’s world number 99 — and fellow left-hander — Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Nadal, 29, dropped the first two games against Bagnis but then won 18 of the next 22 to ease into a last-32 clash against Spanish compatriot Marcel Granollers.

French Open : Djokovic, Nadal Reach Milestones As Serena Eases On

French Open Update : Andy Murray Survives Another Scare

Andy Murray survived a five-set rollercoaster for the second successive match to scrape through to the third round of the French Open.

After coming from two sets down to defeat Radek Stepanek over two days in round one, Murray was back on court against little-known French wild card Mathias Bourgue.

The sun had finally come out and Murray was expected to stroll through against the world No 164.

But instead, from 6-2, 2-0 up, he lost 24 of the next 27 points and eight games in row, and then found himself two sets to one down.

Staring at the worst defeat of his career, the world No 2 did what he invariably does in such situations and found a way back, eventually winning 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in three hours and 34 minutes.

Murray said: “He was excellent. He was the one dictating a lot of the points, making me run a lot and fighting right to the end. He’s going to have a fantastic future for sure.

“I was thinking, ‘What happened?’ I had 6-2, 2-0 and then he started playing unbelievable and I was finding it hard to win points, not games.

“I’ve played these matches many times and I just tried to fight through to the end. It’s been a tough few days and I’m going to have to recover extremely well if I am to go far in this tournament. You can’t play too many matches like this.”

French Open Update : Andy Murray Survives Another Scare