Andy Murray: Gold Medal Proves Scottish Star Has Officially Arrived

Now that he has an Olympic gold, Andy Murray has finally established himself as one of the best tennis players in the world. 

According to the ATP rankings, Murray entered the 2012 Olympics as the No. 4-ranked player in the world. He now has a big tournament victory in his career, and he will begin to build on his recent success.

Murray had a very impressive run in the Olympics, knocking off a couple of the players ranked above him. He beat the second-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and defeated No. 1 Roger Federer in the gold-medal match.

Beating those two players will give him confidence to continue to play well, and he will be able to get right back to work in the Rogers Cup. Federer and third-ranked Rafael Nadal will not play in the tournament, but Djokovic will be the top seed. Djokovic and Murray could meet in the finals.

An Olympic gold is a good start for Murray, but he will now to work on winning a Grand Slam.

In his career, he has never won a Grand Slam. The 25-year-old star made it to the finals at Wimbledon in his last Grand Slam appearance, but he failed to beat Federer. Beating Federer in the Olympics helped him over the hump, though. 

As well as he has played lately, it is hard to imagine that he will not win a Grand Slam soon. With the U.S. Open starting later this month, he will need to step up and show he can be consistent. He made it to the semifinals in last year's tournament, but he will be hoping to leave with a trophy.

Murray is starting to put it all together at this point in his career, and he needs to keep the momentum going. In the last two major tournaments, he was a runner-up and a champion. 

His Olympic performance was impressive because of how he did it. He dominated Federer in straight sets, and the outcome was never in doubt. Now, he has to deal with following up his success. But he is playing well enough to handle the pressure. 

Despite having mixed success in the past, Murray now finds himself at the highest point of his career to date. Playing in a tournament right after his big win gets him to move on and focus on winning another tournament.

Murray still has plenty of time in his career to add to his collection. He is in good shape now that he has defeated two of his biggest competitors in the same tournament.