ICONIC WIMBLEDON GIVES TENNIS PLAYERS EXTRA GAMES LIFT
March 22 (Reuters) - The prospect of competing for Olympic gold on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon during the 2012 London Games has the world's top tennis players salivating in anticipation.
Since the sport was slotted back into the Olympic programme in 1988, its exponents have relished the opportunity to rub shoulders with other athletes in the Olympic village. Until this year, though, the venue itself was hardly significant.
Roger Federer, a 16-times grand slam champion, has taken part in three previous Olympics and he believes the 2012 edition could be the best ever for tennis fans.
“It's a beautiful thing that it's being held at Wimbledon, and you can imagine what that means for the players,” the 30year-old Swiss said. “This is maybe going to be the biggest Olympic Games for tennis players in our lifetime.
“It will be the fourth time I am part of it, if I'm healthy in July, and it's something which I am really looking forward to. It's been something very special every time I have had the chance to show up.”
Arguably the greatest men's player ever, Federer carried the Swiss flag at the 2004 Athens Games and also four years ago in Beijing where he was reduced to tears after unexpectedly winning a doubles gold with Stanislas Wawrinka.
“Competing in Athens was a dream come true for me and I come out of the Olympics with amazing memories every single time,” Federer said at the Indian Wells ATP tournament which he won on Sunday.
“I experience things over there at the Olympics that nowhere else you could,” added the Swiss who lost the bronze medal match to Frenchman Ar- naud Di Pasquale at the 2000 Sydney Games and was upset by American James Blake in the quarter-finals in Beijing.