Andy Murray wins gold medal at Rio Olympics

RIO DE JANEIRO — The hottest tennis player on the planet carried his form from Europe to South America and did something nobody in Olympic history has done in winning a second consecutive singles gold medal.

World No. 2 Andy Murray defeated Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, backing up his Wimbledon title last month and matching the gold he won in London four years ago. When it was over, he raised his arms in victory to salute the crowd and capped off a spellbinding week for the sport despite several top players in both the men’s and women’s draw choosing not to play.

Those who showed up to Rio delivered, none more than Murray.

“To finish with a match like that was very emotional,” Murray said. “It’s been a buildup of emotions over the last 10 days and I’m very happy I got over the line tonight. I’m so tired.”

For Murray, it was a well-earned victory against an inspired opponent who, for the first time in years, looked like the 19-year-old whose missile-launching forehand brought him a U.S. Open title in 2009 and right to the verge of joining Roger Federer and the rest at the top of the tennis world.

Del Potro, however, never became that player due to wrist injuries that forced him to the sidelines for long stretches. Since early 2014, when he required surgery again, he has played very little competitive tennis and came to the Olympics ranked 141st in the world. At the moment, Del Potro isn’t even ranked among the top 10 Argentinians.

But something special happened this week for Del Potro, beginning with his upset of No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round and continuing through an epic 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.

“I got a silver medal, which means gold for me,” Del Potro said. “When I saw the draw and my first match would be Djokovic, I said, ‘OK, it’s going to be a short tournament for me. But I had a great match at the beginning and kept winning every day and the crowd made me cry every night and that was the key to keep going and never give up.”

The brilliant tennis he put together, however, took a toll.

Throughout the final, Del Potro often seemed to be lurching around the court in between points – and sometimes during them -- saving whatever gas remained to tee up screaming forehands and push Murray around the court when he had the opportunity.

After splitting the first two sets in 2 hours, 14 minutes, the only question was how much Del Potro would have left for a best-of-five format the Olympics uses only in the championship round.

“I was so tired,” he said. “I cannot describe how I did it, but for sure the crowds made me run, one more ball and never give up because of them.”

The inevitable dip in energy came with Del Potro serving at 2-3 in the third set, starting the game with two loose points from which he couldn’t recover. It was the opening Murray needed to reassert control of the match, rolling to the end of the set and clinching it with a wicked angle return winner off a Del Potro serve.

Still, Del Potro kept going, pushing Murray to the brink. He improbably broke serve three times in the fourth set alone but couldn’t put it away, as Murray responded in kind every time despite his own fatigue.

“Tonight is one of the hardest matches I’ve had to play for a big title,” he said. “It was really difficult emotionally, tough physically, so many ups and downs.

“We played four hours. That’s hard, especially on this surface, on a slow court with a lot of running. It was physically hard and I served badly tonight. So that made the match even tougher than it was already and had to try to find a way to get through it and managed to get enough breaks and came out with some good serves at the right moments.”

The best of those came at 5-5 when Murray fell behind 15-40, seemingly portending another break for Del Potro. But Murray served his way out of trouble despite a soccer-like crowd singing and chanting in between points for the Argentinian, using two aces to hold and get to the brink of a gold medal, which he secured in the next game with his ninth break of serve.

It capped an Olympics that began with Murray being chosen as the flag carrier for Britain at the opening ceremony, an emotional moment he called the biggest honor of his career during the best stretch of tennis in his career.

“I think last few months I’ve been competing for the biggest events in every tournament,” he said. “I haven’t won every one but I’ve been close. I need to find a way to keep that going.”