Andy Murray retains Olympic tennis title at Rio 2016
The Australian has won five consecutive gold medals and he can still win another
Andy Murray has won Olympic tennis for the fifth consecutive time as he defeated Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in the men’s singles final at the Rio 2016 Games Saturday.
Murray, who is now 40, beat Troicki 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to win his record-extending five consecutive Olympic gold medals just five months after he won their only previous encounter.
Murray is one of only three men in Olympic history to lift the three Olympic golds in mixed doubles. The other two are Michael and Martina Navratilova.
Murray, who has now won all five of his Olympic singles titles, said the win was “the culmination of my career.”
“I can’t tell you how many years I have been trying to win the singles gold medal and I finally did it,” he said.
“It’s one of the top three moments in my career — and the top three to be honest. I’ve been trying for so long to get to an Olympic final, not just to play well, but win an Olympic final.”
The final was the first men’s singles final of the Rio Games — but not the first time a singles final was reached. Murray has reached the semifinals once, in 2010. He was beaten by France’s Nicolas Mahut.
While he and Navratilova both made history, Murray is also the second youngest British captain in Olympic history. Alex Higgins, who began as the oldest, led Great Britain to the men’s doubles gold at the London 2012 Olympics.
I am so happy, so proud, so delighted and incredibly happy for Andy Murray. To be playing this well at this young age is so special, and it’s obviously a huge milestone for the tennis world and I am just so very grateful and so proud of him.
That it was his last tournament as the men’s singles champion was also special as he is now at the stage of his career where