Spanish tennis ace¹ Rafael Nadal said Tuesday that he chose to stay in the Olympic Village in Beijing rather than in a luxury² 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 Swiss³ 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 added⁴.

Nevertheless⁵, 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.

  

西班牙网球名将拉菲尔•纳达尔本周二表示，他不去豪华酒店而选择住在奥运村是为了“深入体会”奥运会的气氛。

纳达尔说：“我来到奥运村是因为我想感受奥运会的气氛，想和其他西班牙运动员一起经历奥运会。这是很特别的体验，我一直很期待来这里。”

8月18日，纳达尔将正式成为世界排名第一的网球选手，终结了罗杰•费德勒保持长达四年的世界第一历史。

他们二人将会在这个月成为争夺奥运金牌的热门人物，而纳达尔获胜的几率更大一些。

纳达尔在意外输掉最近的辛辛那提大师赛后面对比赛更显冷静。

他说：“每个人都想赢，而且竞争很激烈，所以这是一项不胜则败的运动，失败会随时到来。”

不过，这位年轻的西班牙运动员目前考虑的并不是再次失败。

他说：“我来这儿的目的是尽可能做到最好。不过，我们必须冷静面对一切。我现在想的不是失败，而是近在咫尺的奥运会。”