US Open: Juan Martin del Potro and Laura Robson given wildcards

Murray said: “It’s been very different from London for me in terms of staying in the village and stuff”. Lots can happen in four years. They both inspired me and I don’t have that feeling on the tour or in a Grand Slam.

His victory capped an incredible year, in which the British number one won his second Wimbledon title and finished runner-up in two other Grand Slams.

The Briton had been a hot favourite to retain his Olympic title, despite del Potro’s form on the hardcourts in Rio, where he vanquished top seed Novak Djokovic and doubles gold medallist Rafael Nadal to reach the final.

“.without a doubt, it’s been a positive week in all aspects – I’ve played for many hours and the wrist at least didn’t get worse”, Nadal said, reports ESPN.

Murray continued: “He’s done awesome to get back to playing and competing at this level again after all of the issues that he’s had with his wrists”.

They nearly went to a fifth set, too, because del Potro served for the fourth at 5-4, but was broken there, then again in the final game.

But each time he faltered and Murray pounced.

Murray saved two break points for a 6-5 lead.

In comparison, Murray had a much easier route to the final, beating unseeded opponents Viktor Troicki, Juan Monaco and Fabio Fognini along the way.

Fellow Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock downed Williams and Ram 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 10-7 to grab the gold. The Briton could barely lift his arms to celebrate and is now heading to Cincinnati for this week’s Western and Southern Open, a title he has won twice.

Despite the loss, she is still only the second player to have won five tennis medals after already being guaranteed silver by making the final.

Gabriela Sabatini was the first of Argentina’s tennis players to step on an Olympic podium; her silver was followed by three bronze medals by the country (Javier Frana and Christian Miniussi in doubles at Barcelona in 1992 and then by Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini in doubles at Athens in 2004).

Meanwhile, Martina Hingis, who turns 36 next month, also lost in a final Sunday – in women’s doubles with Swiss teammate Timea Bacsinszky to Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-4.

“It’s surreal that I even came out with any hardware at all, it’s so well contested here”, she said.

Kei Nishikori won Japan’s first Olympic tennis medal in nearly a century when he captured bronze against Nadal, despite the tired Spaniard mounting a stirring mid-match fightback.