Murray Dismantles Federer to Win Gold

Mackenzie Liddell, CTVOlympics.ca Staff

There were no tears for Andy Murray at Wimbledon on Sunday – years of heartbreak and bad memories washed away for a moment’s time.

Just a look of relief and a gold medal hanging from his neck.

Four weeks after breaking down in tears at Wimbledon following a tough loss to Roger Federer, Murray returned to Centre Court and finally delivered in a big match.

On Day 9 at London 2012, Murray dismantled Federer in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in front of a raucous home crowd to become the first British player to win Olympic gold since 1908.

It was a moment of redemption for Murray, who has come up short in four Grand Slam finals, three of them against Federer.

“I’ve had a lot of tough losses in my career, but this is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final,” Murray said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Federer was satisfied winning silver.

“I feel very proud to have achieved the silver medal,” Federer said. “That’s the best I could have done this tournament. I’m really happy and pleased.”

Following his match against Federer, Murray and partner Laura Robson narrowly missed out on gold in mixed doubles, falling 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 to Belarus’ Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka.

London 2012 was Murray’s second Olympic Games appearance. He was eliminated by Lu Yen-Hsun in the first round at Beijing 2008.

Williams Sisters Win Third Doubles Gold

Mackenzie Liddell, CTVOlympics.ca Staff

Serena and Venus Williams made history on Sunday, toppling Czech Republic’s Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova 6-4, 6-4 to win doubles gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

With the win, Venus and Serena became the first players in tennis history to win four Olympic gold medals. The American duo won gold in doubles at Beijing 2008 and Sydney 2000 to go along with their individual singles titles – Venus at Sydney 2000 and Serena at London 2012.

“It was so exciting to win the singles, but like I said at the beginning of the tournament my goal was to get gold in doubles here,” Serena said. “There’s something about standing next to Venus and holding that gold medal. Three times we have played, three times we have got the gold medal. So we are pretty stoked about it.”Serena and Venus joined American’s Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez as the only players to successfully defend an Olympic doubles titleIt’s the second time in four weeks that the Williams’ have been crowned champions at the All England Club, having won the doubles title at Wimbledon in July. And while Wimbledon is the most prestigious event in tennis, Venus conceded winning Olympic gold might take the cake.”I would say this is more special than Wimbledon,” Venus said. “Serena always said we wanted to win the gold together. I’m amazed she won the singles and our main goal was to win the doubles, so we got both and it’s amazing.”

And they plan on making it four in a row at Rio 2016.

Del Potro Wins Olympic Bronze at Wimbledo

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England – Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina won the London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medal on Sunday following a 7-5, 6-4 victory over second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Del Potro has some hardware to show for all his hours on the grass at Wimbledon, and for waiting through a rain delay Sunday.

On Friday, the Argentine lost 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 in the Olympic semifinals to Roger Federer in the longest three-set men’s match of the Open era — it went 4 hours, 26 minutes.

After Sunday’s straight-sets win at the All England Club, del Potro fell to the grass, hands over his eyes, and wept.