Federer, Nadal looking forward to Beijing Olympics

Roger Federer's birthday is on the opening day of the Beijing Olympics, and the top-ranked tennis player hopes to be bearing the Swiss flag when the athletes march in at the opening ceremony.

He may run into Rafael Nadal.

"I would be very proud to carry the Swiss flag again, like I did in Athens," Federer said at the Hamburg Masters, where he is the defending champion. Federer will turn 27 on Aug. 8.

"To be at the Olympics, it's one of the greatest things for an athlete," said the 12-time Grand Slam champion, who was upset at the 2004 Athens Games by Thomas Berdych.

Federer will be in his third Olympics, having also participated in Sydney.

The second-ranked Nadal also plans to be at Olympics, his first.

"It is a great experience and I will try my best. I have big expectations," the Spaniard said.

Nadal said he planned to stay with other athletes in the Olympic Village in what will be far more Spartan conditions than the luxury top players enjoy on the tour, with limousine service, hotel suites and other perks.

"If you go to the Olympics you have to stay in the village," Nadal said.

Both players said they were aware of China's crackdown in Tibet but agreed that political problems were best left to politicians.

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