納達爾進入奧運狀態

Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal said Tuesday that he chose to stay in the Olympic Village in Beijing rather than in a luxury hotel in order to "live the atmosphere" of the Olympic Games.

"I have come to the Olympic Village because I want to live the atmosphere of the Olympic Games and share the experience with all of the other Spanish sports people. It is something very special and I was really looking forward to being here," Nadal said.

Nadal will be officially named the number one tennis player in the world on August 18, ending Swiss Roger Federer's four-year stay at the top of the world rankings.

The pair are favorites to go head to head for the Olympic gold medal later this month and Nadal has more chances to win.

The player, who surprisingly lost in the recent Cincinnati Masters, is cool-headed ahead of the Games.

"This is a sport of defeats and defeat can come along at any moment, because everyone wants to win and there is a great deal of competition," he added.

Nevertheless, the young Spaniard has no thought of another defeat on his mind at the moment.

"I am here with the aim of doing as well as possible. But you have to take things calmly. I am not thinking about defeat, but about what lies ahead of me now, which is the Olympic Games," said Nadal.

西班牙網球名將拉菲爾•納達爾本週二表示，他不去豪華酒店而選擇住在奧運村是爲了“深入體會”奧運會的氣氛。

納達爾說：“我來到奧運村是因爲我想感受奧運會的氣氛，想和其他西班牙運動員一起經歷奧運會。這是很特別的體驗，我一直很期待來這裏。”

8月18日，納達爾將正式成爲世界排名第一的網球選手，終結了羅傑•費德勒保持長達四年的世界第一歷史。

他們二人將會在這個月成爲爭奪奧運金牌的熱門人物，而納達爾獲勝的機率更大一些。

納達爾在意外輸掉最近的辛辛那提大師賽後面對比賽更顯冷靜。

他說：“每個人都想贏，而且競爭很激烈，所以這是一項不勝則敗的運動，失敗會隨時到來。”

不過，這位年輕的西班牙運動員目前考慮的並不是再次失敗。

他說：“我來這兒的目的是儘可能做到最好。不過，我們必須冷靜面對一切。我現在想的不是失敗，而是近在咫尺的奧運會。”