Andy Murray says no-one should doubt how much London 2012 means to today's millionaire tennis players as he looks to guarantee his first Olympic medal by beating Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon today.
Murray cruised in to the last four of the men's singles yesterday by hammering 11th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-4 6-1 in front of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Should he beat the 2011 Wimbledon champion, Murray will advance to a likely final against Roger Federer and be guaranteed a medal of some colour.
With millions on offer for winning single tournaments, many have questioned why professional tennis players are allowed to play in the Olympics, but Murray says the event means a lot to him. "It means a lot to me and to all the athletes involved," Murray said.
"A lot of people think that because we have grand slams this doesn't mean as much but that couldn't be further from the truth."
Murray, who made it through to the second round of the mixed doubles with Laura Robson yesterday, is desperate to win an Olympic medal following his defeat to Federer in the Wimbledon final last month.
Djokovic played some superb tennis on his way to beating world number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 7-5 yesterday, however, and will be extremely tough to beat. The Serb said yesterday that he expects to be "the bad guy" in the eyes of the partisan crowd, and he also believes Murray to be driven by his loss to Federer a few weeks ago.
Djokovic said: "He has been playing well and he will have good support from the home crowd here. He came close to winning Wimbledon so he will be motivated to win."