2. Andy Murray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyH50i3uu48 Sport - Tennis After so many years of near misses and close encounters with his three biggest rivals, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, 2012 has been the year where Scottish tennis player Andy Murray has finally silenced his doubters. Having appointed a new coach, former Czech player Ivan Lendl, a former winner of three of the four grand slam tournaments, at the start of the year, Murray began with a semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open and a quarter-final defeat to David Ferrer in the French, suggesting that 2012 was likely to be another frustrating year for British tennis fans. Murrays performance at Wimbledon, however, saw him become the first British man to reach the final since Bunny Austin in 1938. He won the first set against Roger Federer before the Swiss secured his seventh Wimbledon title with a 3-1 victory in sets. Two Olympic finals then followed, with Murray getting revenge over Federer in the mens single final, securing a gold medal, before achieving silver in mixed doubles alongside Laura Robson, a pairing that was unfancied before the tournament, but only eventually fell to the Belarusian world number one pairing of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka in a match that was played almost immediately after Murrays first victory, despite his fatigue. The Scotsman then reached his second consecutive grand slam final, the US Open, in September, where he triumphed, beating Novak Djokovic in five sets and ending the year ranked at number three in the world, ahead of Rafael Nadal, finally able to compete with the Spaniard, Djokovic and Federer in the tournaments that matter.