Knighthoods for Murray and Farah in New Year’s Honors List
Lee Pearson, who won his 11th Paralympic gold in equestrian in Rio, was also knighted.
Andy Murray fought off the dangerous Juan Martin del Potro in four sets (7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 ) to clinch his second consecutive gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
The Scot, who plays under the Great Britain banner at the Olympics, was considered favourite to win the gold medal in the men&’s singles competition and justified that tag with a typically determined display.
The world No. 2 Murray, who was defending his 2012 London Olympics’ gold medal, had set a date in the finals after defeating Japan&’s Kei Nishikori in the semifinals.
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Del Potro had created the first upset of the Olympics when he had sent world No. 1 Novak Djokovic home packing in the very first round of the competition.
Following that act, he had knocked out Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the semifinals to get a shot at the coveted gold medal.
In a hard fought battle which went up to four hours, Murray overpowered the exhausted Del Potro in a match which was full of emotions.
The crowd was behind the towering Argentine throughout the entire match but he eventually lost steam and had to settle for silver, which is a massive achievement for the injury prone del Potro.
Given a tough draw from the beginning thanks to his low ATP ranking, del Potro went all out in a bid to win his second Olympic medal after winning the bronze in London four years ago.
With a ferocious forearm and roaring serves, Del Potro made the defending gold medalist dance to his tunes in an impressive second set but could not keep up the momentum throughout.
In the end, it was clear who was the fitter athlete of the two, as Murray&’s grit proved to be too much for del Potro&’s considerable power-packed game.
Both finalists have had a great tournament, and will go into the hardcourt season with renewed confidence that they can win the upcoming US Open.
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