London, England

Swiss tennis magician Roger Federer has ruled Wimbledon like a king, but on a rainy and gloomy Sunday afternoon, it was local boy, Andy Murray, who came out of the shadow of the champion to win the Olympic men's singles title with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 thrashing of the seven-time Wimbledon champ.

Murray's victory served two purposes. It gave his country a reason to cheer as no British player has won on the hallowed Wimbledon grass after Fred Perry. More than that, the triumph helped the world's fourth-ranked player avenge the Wimbledon final loss to Federer a month back.

Within four weeks of the humbling Wimbledon defeat, which left Murray in tears, the player returned on Center Court to crush the Swiss legend in less than two hours. All those who have keenly followed Federer's journey, also knew that the champion never gives up.

Despite trailing by two sets, they knew a fight-back was round the corner. On Sunday, it never came and the packed Wimbledon arena was basking in Murray's glory.

Murray, 25, has lost to Federer in three Grand Slam finals and the script seemed unlikely to change on Sunday. But, the Scotsman drew inspiration from the crowd to fulfill his dream of winning a title at Wimbledon.

This was also the 17-time Grand Slam winner Federer's heaviest loss in a top-notch tournament after Spain's former No 1, Rafael Nadal, had beaten him in four sets in the 2008 French Open final.

For Federer, winner of the doubles gold medal at Beijing (2008) with Stanislas Wawrinka, this was a huge disappointment as this was his best chance for Olympic glory. The duo of Federer and Wawrinka was eliminated in the doubles preliminary rounds here a few days back.

Federer later conceded that the "emotional demands" of going into the Olympic final that too against the local favorite, had left him drained. He agreed that the nerve-racking four hours and 26 minutes semifinal against Juan Martin del Potro had left him completely worn out.

Federer never faced an easy match at the Olympics, emerging battle-scarred against Alejandro Falla and John Isner and leaving him with absolutely no time to recover for the clash against Murray.

"I felt OK physically, I think it was maybe more emotionally because, God, I had tears in my eyes after my first-round match, believe it or not," Federer was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile Murray and Laura Robson missed out on mixed doubled gold, losing in the final.