Singles, Men

Of the 16 major championships that had been contested since the Beijing Olympics all bar one had been shared around between the current “big three” of the men’s game, Novak Đoković, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Sadly Nadal, the reigning Olympic champion, was forced out of London 2012 with a case of tendinitis in his knee, an injury which forced him to cut short his season.

Three weeks before the Olympic Games began Federer won his 7th Wimbledon title by beating Britain’s Andy Murray in the final but in London the roles were dramatically reversed.Seemingly inspired by the Olympic atmosphere Murray first defeated Đoković in the semi-finals then won the Olympic title with a shockingly easy victory over Federer with the loss of only 7 games. This was the biggest victory for a British male tennis player for three quarters of a century and proved a career turning point for Murray as the perennial “nearly man” of men’s tennis then went on to win the US Open later in the year.

The growing acceptance of the importance of the Olympic Games in the world of tennis (and vice versa) was best demonstrated by what happened the end of the bronze medal match between Đoković and Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro. Overcome with emotion after clinching his nation’s first medal of London 2012 del Potro went down on his knees and started crying.