Tennis-Federer hopes to sharpen Olympics play in 2008

NEW YORK, Sep 10 (Reuters) Fresh from winning his fourth successive US Open title, Roger Federer was looking forward to another challenge next year -- the Olympics Games in Beijing.

''The 2008 season to me is the Olympic year so I'm excited, and hopefully I can do better than last time,'' the 26-year-old Swiss told reporters the morning after his win against Serb Novak Djokovic.

Federer finished fourth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and was beaten in the second round at the 2004 Games in Athens.

Despite the losses, he said playing at the Games was one of the highlights of his career.

''When I played in Sydney I thought it was an incredible feeling. It was such a happy couple of weeks for me in my life that I couldn't believe it,'' he said.

''Adding to that I met my girlfriend there which was great,'' he said referring to Mirka Vavrinec, a former tennis player who now acts as his manager.

Apart from the Olympic gold, the only other major title missing from his impressive resume is the French Open crown.

But the 12-times grand slam champion refused to put too much pressure on himself to win the claycourt slam.

''The French Open is a major goal to me but I'm not going to sacrifice everything for it,'' he said.

''Honestly the US Open has become a second love after Wimbledon.

''I struggled with the play (in New York) in the beginning, I thought it was a crazy place. I got my ass kicked once against (Andre) Agassi on center court.

''But to come back and win here and spending a lot of time here over the past few years, to me the US Open has become really special,'' said Federer, adding that he had gotten just two-and-a-half hours of sleep after a late downtown dinner following his match.

REUTERS RAR RN0008