The Olympic tennis tournament in Beijing has hurt the summer hardcourt series in America; forced most of the world’s best players to fly thousands of miles more than they would normally fly at this time of the year, and done little (at least in America) to build momentum leading up to the U.S. Open, since very little of the Olympic tournament can be found on television. But Roger Federer couldn’t be happier.

Federer, playing his last tournament for at least a few months as the no. 1 seed, forgot to pack the woe-is-me look he wore a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, the site of his most recent surprise defeat. In Beijing, Federer has played beautifully. Yesterday, he dismissed Tomas Berdych, the man who knocked Federer out of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, in straight sets. Today, he takes on James Blake, to whom Federer has never lost in eight meetings.

In a recent conversation I had with the former coach of Pete Sampras, Paul Annacone, he noted that later in their careers, champions tend to conserve energy — and he meant mental energy — for the most important events. A few years ago, Federer was eager to win every tournament he played. But last year and more so this season, we’ve seen him falter in places such as Indian Wells, Calif., Miami, Toronto, and Cincinnati. At the major tournaments, he’s been much more reliable, reaching two finals and a semifinal this year — a phenomenal year for most players, though subpar for him. With age, the emphasis must be on the tournaments that count the most, not winning all the time. Federer seems to agree.

“I always said that every tournament counts for me that I enter,” he said earlier this week. “But, obviously, it’s not a secret that I base my schedule around trying to have the best preparation for the Grand Slams.”

Federer seems to want a gold medal as much as another major title, and has the easiest road of the eight men remaining in the draw. Blake will present a significant obstacle: The American is just the sort of player — talented but never quite steady enough to win a major title — who has come away with Olympic gold in the past. Pity that he must face Federer this early. Blake’s hard, flat strokes and overall aggression are a perfect fit for Federer’s style, which is, essentially, reactive — no one responds to pace as quickly or as well. Federer should win and then defeat the winner of Paul-Henri Mathieu and Fernando Gonzalez, who won the bronze medal in Athens in 2004.

To win gold, Federer likely will have to face Rafael Nadal, who is playing well, or Novak Djokovic, who has won all his matches with ease to this point. No matter what happens at this tournament, Nadal will take over the no. 1 ranking on Monday. But you can bet he’d much rather take the top spot in style by defeating Federer in the gold medal match on Sunday, just as he stole Federer’s Wimbledon title last month. A rematch would be the best thing that could happen to tennis this weekend with the U.S. Open only a week away.

The women’s tournament may end with a Wimbledon rematch, too. Venus Williams, who won her fifth Wimbledon title in July, drubbed her first three opponents and now plays Li Na, the only Chinese woman remaining in the singles draw, in the quarterfinals. Serena Williams, who has never won a medal in singles, has not looked as sharp, but yesterday she cleaned up her game in time to defeat Alize Cornet in the fourth round. The two women with the best chance of beating one of the sisters — Jelena Jankovic, now the no. 1 player in the world, and Dinara Safina, who has won her last 15 matches — play each other today. The winner will face the winner of Venus Williams and Li in the semifinals.

The Williams sisters should win the doubles tournament, as they did in Sydney in 2000. The men’s doubles tournament — where the world’s best doubles teams are fighting for their reputations against the world’s best singles players — is much less clear. Top players, including Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, packed the draw to start the tournament. Of those three stars, only Federer, who plays with countryman Stanislas Wawrinka, remains. The upshot is that Bob and Mike Bryan, the 30-year-old American twins, have a chance to strike a knockout blow for their doubles brethren in the next few days. Today, they take on Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione of Australia. Next up could be a contest against Federer and Wawrinka. If the twins capture gold in Beijing, it would be the crowning achievement of their careers.

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If you would like to watch Olympic tennis online, go to nbcolympics.com/tennis. The quality of the video is exceptional, no doubt the best online broadcast of tennis I’ve seen.

Mr. Perrotta is a senior editor at Tennis magazine. He can be reached at tperrotta@tennismagazine.com.