Roger Federer and the race to become world No.1

After defeating Marin Cilic to win his 6th Australian Open and a record 20th Grand Slam, Roger Federer is within sniffing distance of regaining the numero uno spot after a span of over 5 years. Currently, the top spot is held by Rafael Nadal who has 9760 ATP ranking points. But as the Spaniard's struggle with injuries continues, it will not be a surprise if Roger Federer who is is currently 155 ATP ranking points behind, becomes world number 1.

The ATP rankings system sees the last 12 months of events adding up to a player’s total. With Mexico Open and Dubai Championship next month, there are good chances of Federer becoming number 1 as Nadal needs to defend the 300 points he earned by making the final of the Mexico Open last year. Meanwhile, Federer, who reached the second round of Dubai Championship last year earning 45 points can earn as many as 455 extra points, while Nadal can only earn an extra 200(winning each event is worth 500 points).

Roger Federer after winning Australian Open 2018

Making a comeback, after a knee injury which forced him to take a break from tennis for 6 months, everything has fallen in place for Roger Federer as he has won 3 out of his last 5 Grand Slams. The Swiss who was ranked 16th at the commencement of the year 2017, is now sitting pretty at 2nd, 4645 ATP points clear of the 3rd ranked Croatian Marin Čilić.

In the process, Federer(36) can also shatter yet another record of becoming the oldest male player to grab the top spot. The record is currently held by Andre Agassi, the American tennis great was 33 years and 131 days old when he last held the top spot in 2003.

Latest Top 5 ATP rankings-

1. Rafael Nadal (9760 points)

2. Roger Federer (9605)

3. Marin Cilic (4960)

4. Grigor Dimitrov (4630)

5. Alexander Zverev (4610)