Second high on grass

Federer wants to add missing Olympic singles gold to his kitty at Wimbledon

A seventh Challenge Cup secured,Roger Federer was ready for a weeks holiday on Monday before returning to London to complete what he hopes will be a unique Wimbledon-Olympic double triumph at the All England Club.

The moment London were awarded the Games seven years ago,Federer tapped the dates into his electronic phone diary,knowing it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to win two golden prizes in the space of four weeks at the home of lawn tennis. Little did the then five-times Grand Slam champion know that come July 2012,he would have won a record 17 majors,been on top of the world rankings for a record 286 weeks and passed so many landmarks that he could open a Roger Federer library,chronicling his never-ending list of achievements.

There remains,however,one missing volume. The book labelled Roger Federers journey to Olympic singles glory has yet to be finished as the Swiss maestro has three attempts at writing that memoir but abandoned it each time due to the absence of a fairytale ending. I do believe my situation has that little star next to it. Now the Olympic gold is a dream for me, a refreshed and alert Federer told a small group of reporters on Monday,despite getting only a couple of hours sleep after beating Andy Murray to win a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title.

I am now the Wimbledon champion that gives me even more confidence coming to the Olympics. Maybe in some ways it takes the pressure off the Olympics because I already did win at Wimbledon this year so thats a good thing. Of course there is a lot of hype around me playing at the Olympics this year round. I believe I can handle the pressure but the Olympics is a different animal because you only do get an opportunity every four years. You hope to get the right draw,you hope to play the right matches,the right points at the right times. To win Olympic gold things need to all fall into place nicely.

So far,his three Olympic experiences comprise meeting wife Mirka at Sydney in 2000,carrying the Swiss flag for the first time in the opening ceremony at Athens 2004 and winning a doubles gold with Stanislas Wawrinka at Beijing 2008. All good memories,but as he is reminded so often,there is that one golden singles prize still missing from his career.Maybe it will be complete in London.

Paes-Vesnina lose final

Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina will have to wait a little longer for their first Grand Slam title together as they finished runners-up in the Wimbledon mixed doubles event,losing the summit clash to Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond. The fourth seeded Indo-Russian pair suffered a 3-6 7-5 4-6 defeat at the hands of the second seed Americans.

Paes and Vesnina saved a match point in the 10th and then went on to break Mike Bryan to level the scores at 5-5. Vesnina held the next game to make it 6-5 and the Indo-Russian duo then broke Raymond to stretch the issue to the deciding third set.

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Paes was broken in the very first game of the final set and Mike Bryan made it 2-0. But the Indo-Russian team broke Raymond in the fourth game to make it even.

Eventually,it was Vesnina who lost her serve in the seventh game and Bryan and Raymond clinched the issue in the tenth game.

Top of the charts

1. 3 Roger Federer 11075 points

2. 1 Novak Djokovic 11000

3. 2 Rafa Nadal 8905

4. 4 Andy Murray 7460

5. 5 David Ferrer 5430

1. 2 Victoria Azarenka 8800 points

2. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska 8530

3. 1 Maria Sharapova 8370

4. 6 Serena Williams United States 7360

5. 5 Samantha Stosur Australia 6195