ELEANOR CROOKS Forty two days after playing possibly the greatest tennis match in history, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could be facing off again in another major final.

After the plaudits of that epic Wimbledon showpiece however, the hype ahead of the Olympic tennis competition is conspicuous by its absence.

That the world's top two players are heading to Beijing is already a coup for the tournament. For rather than being the pinnacle of a player's career, the Olympics has previously been an event the top stars are happy to miss ahead of the US Open - the final grand slam of the year.

This year sees nine of the top 10 men taking part in the Games, with only America's Andy Roddick choosing to skip it, while Anna Chakvetadze has opted out of the women's event.

Even though the top names are playing, that does not guarantee a high-profile winner. In Athens four years ago, Chile's Nicolas Massu beat Mardy Fish to win the gold medal. Massu, who also took gold in the doubles with Fernando Gonzalez, is now ranked outside the top 100 and needs a wildcard just to compete in Beijing.

Andre Agassi, the gold medallist in Atlanta in 1996, stands out as the only top-name winner since tennis was reintroduced as a medal sport in 1988. Federer played in Athens but lost in the second round to a then virtually unknown Tomas Berdych.

Admittedly, in the women's event it is a different story, with Steffi Graf, Venus Williams and Justine Henin all winning the top prize.

Andy and Jamie Murray are representing Great Britain, with world No.9 Andy hoping to build on his Wimbledon quarter-final appearance.

"It's a great honour to be selected to represent your country in the biggest sporting event in the world," he said. But there lies the conundrum for tennis - the Olympics is not the biggest event in the tennis calendar, it is arguable whether it is even the fifth biggest.

When the records of top players are compared, their performances at the Olympics rarely even warrant a mention, it is all about the grand slams.

Some of the most famous sports stars in the world are overshadowed by rowers, sailors, badminton players and other athletes for whom the Olympic Games is the very highest pinnacle of their sport. Tennis and other big-money sports like football sit uneasily in this company. Football has attempted to get round this problem by making it an under-23 competition, but for tennis it is just another tournament on the calendar.

Federer may beat Nadal to win a gold medal on August 17 and banish some demons from a so far traumatic year, but another US Open title a few weeks later would make far greater waves in his sporting arena.