London: Wimbledon champion and world No 1 Roger Federer has acknowledged he is the favourite for Olympic gold.
For all Federer’s 17 Grand Slam titles, an Olympic singles medal has eluded him, although he won gold in the men’s doubles in 2008.
Federer took back the top spot from Novak Djokovic last month after winning Wimbledon, where the Olympic tennis event will be played.
Federer has been drawn against Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in round one. AP
Asked if he considers himself the top candidate for gold ahead of local hero Andy Murray and Djokovic, the top seed answered affirmatively.
“I played great at Wimbledon, I was able to beat Novak, does that make me the favourite? Maybe. I’m the world No 1, so if you put all these things on the table it could be the case,” he said.
Federer said he was not completely concentrating on his own performance.
“To be quite honest, my focus is a little bit on them now, but only for as long as I’m in the tournament. I hope to still be standing so I can face them,” Federer said of Murray and Djokovic.
Arch-rival Rafael Nadal pulled out of the competition due to a lack of preparation caused by knee injury.
But Federer, drawn against Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in round one, is wary of the early stages, where the shortened best-of-three match format narrows the margins considerably.
As the 30-year-old star noted, had he played best-of-three at Wimbledon a month ago, he would have been ousted in round three by Julien Benneteau.
“That is the danger of the early rounds,” he said.
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