Puerto Rico prepares big welcome home for Olympic tennis champ Monica Puig

Puerto Ricans are looking forward to the arrival of Monica Puig, the tennis player whose singles title at the Rio Games made her the Caribbean island’s first gold medalist.

Puig is expected to arrive at San Juan International Airport on Aug. 23, when a spectacular welcome ceremony will be held, Puerto Rico Olympic Committee president Sara Rosario Velez told reporters Monday.

The 22yearold Puig, who is ranked 34th in the world, defeated Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the world No. 2, 64, 46, 61 in the women’s gold medal match on Saturday.

More than 8 million Puerto Ricans around the world, of whom 3.4 million live on the island, eagerly anticipated the Olympic championship match.

Thousands of people gathered in bars, restaurants and private homes across Puerto Rico to watch the historic match.

The start of the match, however, was delayed due to the semifinal between Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

When Puig’s match began, most Puerto Ricans literally stopped what they were doing to watch, and even Catholic Masses were delayed since priests were following the match on cell phones.

“This is for Puerto Rico. This is definitely for them,” Puig said after her victory. “They’re going through some tough times right now, and they needed this. I needed this.”

On her dream run to the gold in Rio, Puig knocked off Spanish world No. 4 Garbiñe Muguruza, the French Open champ, twotime Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, Slovenia’s Polona Hercog and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Puerto Rico had never won a gold medal since first participating in the Olympic Games in London 1948.

Since 1948, the island has won eight medals, six of them in boxing, along with Javier Culson’s bronze medal in 400 meters and boxer Jaime Espinal’s silver medal, both won in London 2012.

Puig is the first Puerto Rican athlete to win an Olympic medal while representing the island.

Gigi Fernandez, who was born in San Juan, won the gold in doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Games and the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics with Mary Joe Fernandez, but she played for the United States not the U.S. commonwealth.

Artists born in Puerto Rico, such as Ricky Martin, Chayanne and Luis Fonsi, as well as those born in the United States to Puerto Rican parents, such as Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and LinManuel Miranda, congratulated Puig via social media.