Federer to carry flag for Switzerland

World tennis number one Roger Federer will carry the Swiss flag at next Friday's Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.

Federer, who will be celebrating his 27th birthday on the day of the ceremony, also led out his country at the opening of the Athens Olympics four years ago.

"It's wonderful that I can carry the flag for the Swiss delegation on my birthday," Federer said in a Swiss Olympic statement.

"It's well known that I still have a score to settle with the Olympics and being handed this honour for a second time will give me extra motivation."

Federer went into the Athens Games as a heavy gold medal favourite but suffered an upset against Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych early in the tournament.

The 12-times grand slam champion could lose his world number one ranking before the start of this month's Games.

On Thursday he made a third round exit from the Cincinatti Masters after losing to Croatia's Ivo Karlovic.

Spanish rival Rafael Nadal, who beat Federer in this year's French Open and Wimbledon finals, could now end Federer's 4-1½ year at the top by winning the Cincinatti title.