Top 5 contenders for No. 1 ranking in Men's Tennis in 2018

#5 Milos Raonic

Raonic looks set to rise in 2018 after an injury break

Two years ago Milos Raonic reached his career high ranking of 3, just about at a time when the old guard of Men's Tennis was looking to fade away with a crop of new challengers waiting to dethrone them. But an injury-laden 2017 made the talented Canadian wait a bit longer.

Raonic is yet to set the stage on fire in 2018, but a semi-final outing at Indian Wells and a run into the Miami quarters provides a glimpse into his future for the rest of the season. Interestingly, he lost both of the above matches to Juan Martin del Potro.

A poor 2017 season according to his standards has hampered his ranking, and thus he is set to face tougher draws in the coming tournaments. With form on his side, he should comfortably break into the top ten by the time Wimbledon starts. The second half of the season looks promising for the Canadian as he is defending less number of points and looks to rise further up in the rankings.

It would take a lot of effort and luck for him to clinch the year-end number one, but if he can manage to break into the top 5 before the last Grand Slam of the year, the field would be wide open. Raonic didn't play a single tournament last year after the Canada Masters and can grab invaluable points in the hard-court swing of the tour later.

Rising to no. 1 after starting the year at a lower ranking is not unprecedented in Tennis, and neither is winning title after title post the US Open, but it took the greatness of Nadal and Murray to achieve those feats.

The jury is still out on whether Raonic can produce that level of tennis against a pool of supremely talented rivals, but if he can it would be a testimony enough of his skill and his contention of being a forerunner in the race of becoming Tennis' next great.