Olympic Tennis 2012: Gold Medal Not Enough for Andy Murray

In front of his home fans, Andy Murray pulled off one of the most inspiring Olympic performances so far, winning Olympic gold in men's singles by way of a straight-set victory over Roger Federer. 

A month after losing to Federer in the Wimbledon final—perhaps even being spurred on by his defeat—Murray defeated Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, becoming the first tennis player from Great Britain to win gold since 1908, and completing the ultimate tale of redemption. 

The Olympic gold has been his biggest victory to date, but is it enough for the Scotsman? And is it enough for his fans?

Murray is infamous for collapsing under the pressure of big games, having lost all four of his Grand Slam final appearances—three of which were to Federer. 

Despite winning over perhaps his greatest adversary, one can only imagine—now that he has finally tasted a huge victory—that Andy Murray now wants more.

No disrespect to the Olympics, but tennis at the Games runs in the same vein as Olympic soccer: it's cool if you medal, but it's not as prestigious as winning a Grand Slam event. Murray needs to win a major tournament in order to prove his Olympic goal was not a fluke. 

Murray's next chance to win big is at the US Open, which starts on August 27th. Not much of a turnaround, but neither was preparing for the Olympics. 

Andy Murray stands a good chance of winning the Open, despite the usual star-studded field consisting of Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and company. He should be able to ride Olympic victory into the tournament the same way he rode Wimbledon failure into the Olympics.

If Murray can continue playing aggressive tennis like he did when he beat Novak Djokovic en route to the Olympic final and stomped all over Federer on the same court he lost on a month ago, the Scot will have a much better chance to legitimize his claim over the tennis world.  

At only 25 years old, Andy Murray has what seems like a lifetime to solidify his spot as one of the world's best tennis players, but the time to do so is now, on the heels of his greatest achievement thus far.